-  . 

BV  4012  . B5 

Bitting,  William  C.  1857- 
1931. 

The  teaching  pastor 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/teachingpastorsaOObitt 


THE  TEACHING  PASTOR 


THE  TEACHING  PASTOR 


THE  SAMUEL  A.  CROZER  LECTURES 


IN 


CROZER  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

1922-1923 


v 


of  pmcefy 


OCT  4  1924 

V  N%06ICAL 

By  WILLIAM  C.  BITTING,  D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  JUDSON  PRESS 


BOSTON 
KANSAS  CITY 


CHICAGO 

SEATTLE 


LOS  ANGELES 
TORONTO 


Copyright,  1923,  by 
GILBERT  N.  BRINK,  Secretary 

Published  October,  1923 


Printed  in  U.  S.  A 


THIS  LITTLE  BOOK 

IS  GRATEFULLY  DEDICATED 
TO  THE  THOUSANDS  OF  PERSONS 
WHO  THROUGH  MANY  YEARS 
HAVE  OPENED  EARS  AND  HEARTS 
TO  RECEIVE  THE  BEST  THAT 
ONE  TEACHING  PASTOR 
COULD  BRING  FROM  HIS  OWN  STUDY 
AND  THOSE  OF  COUNTLESS  OTHERS 


. 


STATEMENT  OF 

THE  SAMUEL  A.  CROZER  LECTURESHIP 

IN 

THE  CROZER  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


The  Samuel  A.  Crozer  Lectureship,  founded  1880, 
provides  for  special  lectures  to  be  delivered  at  the 
Seminary  during  each  year.  The  instrument  defin¬ 
ing  the  object  of  Lectureship  says : 

The  person  to  deliver  these  lectures  shall  be  chosen  by  the 
Faculty  of  the  Seminary,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  .  .  .  The  topics  of  these  lectures  to  be  subjects 
that  are  profitable  to  be  presented  to  Christian  ministers  or 
students  for  the  ministry.  In  selecting  lecturers  the  Faculty 
shall  not  be  restricted  to  the  Baptist  denomination,  but 
may  appoint  from  any  denomination  termed  evangelical,  from 
laymen  as  well  as  ministers,  and  from  citizens  of  foreign 
countries  or  our  own  as  they  (the  Faculty)  see  fit.  The 
lecturer  may  give  single  lectures,  or  a  course  of  lectures,  as 
circumstances  may  indicate  or  the  Faculty  may  appoint. 

On  this  foundation  courses  of  lectures  have  been 
delivered  annually  since  1880,  but  very  few  have 
been  printed. 

The  present  volume  contains  the  lectures  delivered 
in  March,  1923,  by  the  Reverend  William  C.  Bitting, 
D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  Second  Baptist  Church,  St. 


Statement 


Louis,  Missouri.  Few  pastors  are  better  qualified  to 
present  the  material  contained  in  this  volume ;  and  it 
is  issued  with  the  conviction  that  it  will  be  helpful  to 
others  in  “  the  ministry  of  the  Word.” 

Milton  G.  Evans, 

President  Crozer  Theological  Seminary . 


June,  1923. 


PREFACE 


The  necessary  limitation  of  the  number  of  these 
lectures  caused  the  giving  up  of  the  first  intention 
to  open  the  course  with  a  treatment  of  the  historical 
method  of  Bible  study.  Every  lecture  is  based  upon 
the  use  of  that  method.  The  writer  believes  that 
every  part  of  the  Bible  is  not  only  literature,  but  also 
in  conception,  utterance,  and  original  publication 
an  historical  event  that  had  a  definite  relation  to  the 
author  or  speaker,  and  to  contemporary  conditions. 
With  possibly  the  exception  of  some  psalms  that  are 
general  expressions  of  religious  feeling,  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  cannot  be  understood,  nor  their  power  appre¬ 
ciated,  without  some  knowledge  of  the  historical  sit¬ 
uations  out  of  which  they  grew. 

It  should  further  be  stated  that  the  subject  was 
chosen  because  of  experiences  of  the  writer  who  for 
many  years  has  tried  to  pursue  the  methods  he 
advocates.  His  ministry  has  thoroughly  vindicated 
both  the  intellectual  sanity  and  spiritual  value  of 
what  the  lectures  so  inadequately  describe.  Ob¬ 
servation  also  has  confirmed  experience.  The  lec¬ 
tures  are  suggestive,  not  exhaustive.  No  one  could 
be  more  conscious  of  the  incompleteness  of  treat¬ 
ment  of  any  topic  than  the  writer.  Every  para¬ 
graph  in  the  lectures  should  be  expanded  for  any¬ 
thing  like  a  full  treatment  of  the  subject  discussed 
therein.  The  reader  will  be  able  to  enlarge  upon 
the  topic. 


Preface 


Quotations  have  been  avoided.  References  have 
been  confined  mainly  to  the  Bible  itself.  There  is 
little  literature  extant  upon  the  precise  topic  with 
which  the  lectures  deal.  The  volumes  of  The  Bibli¬ 
cal  World  from  the  beginning  until  that  periodical 
ceased  to  limit  itself  specifically  to  Bible  study  con¬ 
tain  many  articles  that  bear  upon  the  topics  treated 
herein.  There  will  also  be  found  in  some  publica¬ 
tions  of  the  Religious  Education  Association  articles 
which  deal  with  the  same  matter  in  a  more  or  less 
thoroughly  scientific  way.  The  resources  of  general 
literature  have  not  been  utilized,  although  the 
wealth  of  illustration  that  could  have  been  derived 
from  poems,  novels,  essays,  and  books  upon  the 
Bible  is  limitless. 

The  lectures  are  published  with  a  high  sense  of 
the  privilege  of  making  known  the  experiences  of 
one  minister,  and  of  the  joy  in  the  effort  to  induce 
others  to  make  the  same  experiment.  The  writer 
does  not  at  all  depreciate  any  other  form  of  the 
ministry,  every  activity  of  which  is  noble,  useful, 
and  necessary  beyond  the  power  of  words  to  de¬ 
scribe.  Nevertheless,  the  specific  work  herein  advo¬ 
cated  seems  to  be  called  for  and  is  opportune  in  the 
present  generation  with  its  emphasis  upon  educa¬ 
tion,  and  the  constantly  increasing  facilities  pro¬ 
vided  by  the  State,  by  religion,  and  by  private  gener¬ 
osity.  It  also  seems  to  be  imperative  because  of 
conditions  now  existing  in  all  Christian  denomina¬ 
tions,  our  own  no  less  than  others. 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE  PAGE 

I.  The  Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Min¬ 
istry  . 1-24 

Concentration  of  Functions  in  the 

Pastor's  Work  .  1 

I.  The  Need  for  the  Teaching  Ministry  3 

1.  Enlightening  Ignorance  of  the 

Bible  .  3 

2.  Correcting  Mistaken  Ideas .  5 

3.  Preventing  Wrong  Conceptions  .  8 

4.  Helping  in  Practical  Living .  10 

I  5.  Neutralizing  Unintelligent 

Teaching  .  12 

II.  The  Opportunity  for  This  Ministry.  .  14 

1.  The  Official  Position  as  Pastor.  .  14 

2.  Control  of  Church  School  In¬ 

struction  .  16 

3.  Week-day  Classes  for  Study .  18 

4.  The  Use  of  Good  Books .  19 

III.  Cautions  for  the  Teaching  Pastor.  .  21 

1.  Be  Qualified .  21 

2.  Gain  the  Confidence  of  the 

People  .  21 

3.  Proceed  Slowly .  22 

4.  Avoid  Making  the  Pulpit  a  Lab¬ 

oratory  .  23 

5.  Be  Constructive  in  Spirit  and 

Purpose  .  24 


Contents 


LECTURE  PAGE 

II.  Reactions  of  His  Ministry  on  His 

Life  .  25-47 

Necessity  of  Proper  Qualifications  ...  25 

I.  Reactions  on  Personal  Life .  26 

1.  Compulsory  Systematic  Bible 

Study  .  26 

2.  Fellowship  in  Pursuit  of  Spir¬ 

itual  Reality .  28 

3.  Wide  Culture  as  a  By-product  of 

Teaching  .  29 

4.  Ethical  Enthusiasm  Pervading 

All  Processes .  32 

5.  Devotional  Appreciation  of  Sa¬ 

cred  Literature .  34 

II.  Effects  Upon  His  Public  Ministry.  .  36 

1.  Uses  of  Scriptures  in  the  Pulpit.  36 

2.  Choice  and  Treatment  of  Texts 

in  Sermons .  38 

3.  The  Joy  and  Vitality  of  Preach¬ 

ing  .  42 

III.  Inevitable  Church  Educational  At¬ 

mosphere  .  45 

III.  His  Oneness  with  the  Educated  Com¬ 
munity  . 48-71 

The  Teacher  in  the  Early  Church  and 

His  Successor .  48 

I.  Present  Functions  of  the  Teaching 
Pastor  .  51 

1.  Uplifting  the  Uneducated .  51 

2.  Identification  With  the  Edu¬ 

cated  .  52 


Contents 


LECTURE  PAGE 

3.  Competent  Interpretation  of  the 

Bible  .  55 

4.  Mediating  Truth  to  Modern  Life  .  57 

5.  Evangelization  of  the  Cultured.  61 

6.  Recruiting  Teaching  Forces  in 

Religion  .  67 

IV.  His  Ministry  to  the  Young .  72-96 

Young  People  Must  Live  Out  Their 

Own  Lives .  72 

I.  Discoveries  Concerning  Religious 
Education  .  73 

1.  Neglected  in  Most  Homes .  73 

2.  Unsatisfactory  in  Many  Church 

Schools  .  75 

3.  Superior  Equipment  and  Methods 

of  State  Schools .  76 

4.  Influence  of  the  Non-academic 

Curriculum  .  78 

5.  Inevitable  Results  of  These  Con¬ 

ditions  .  80 

II.  The  Service  of  the  Pastor .  81 

1.  Anticipating  College  Tests  of 

Church-school  Work .  81 

2.  Guarding  Against  Teaching  That 

Must  Be  Unlearned .  83 

3.  Preventing  Moral  Shock  in  Edu¬ 

cational  Development .  85 

4.  Welcoming  College  Graduates 

When  They  Return  Home .  87 

5.  Helping  Those  Without  Educa¬ 

tional  Advantages .  89 


Contents 


LECTUEE  PAGE 

6.  Promoting  Educational  Evangel¬ 
ism  .  91 

The  Forms  of  This  Ministry .  93 

1.  Pulpit  and  Personal  Service _  93 

2.  Control  of  Church-school  Cur¬ 

riculum  .  94 

3.  Supervision  of  Young  People’s  Or¬ 

ganizations  .  96 

V.  His  Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Chris¬ 
tian  Unity  . . . . 97-123 

The  Fact  of  Sectarianism .  97 

I.  The  Harmfulness  of  Sectarianism  . .  97 

1.  Inability  to  Make  United  Senti¬ 

ment  Effective .  97 

2.  Disunion  in  Christian  Work .  99 

3.  Waste  of  Money .  100 

4.  Waste  of  Ministerial  Service  ...  100 

5.  Impression  on  Non-Christians  .. .  101 

6.  Confusion  in  Foreign  Mission 

Work  .  102 

II.  Conditions  Demanding  Teaching 

Pastors  .  102 

1.  Each  Sect  Appeals  to  the  Bible.  .  102 

2.  Love  and  Scholarship  the  Solu¬ 

tion  of  the  Problem .  103 

3.  The  Pastors  are  Leaders  of  Their 

Groups  .  104 

4.  Varieties  of  Biblical  Interpreta¬ 

tion  .  105 

5.  Influence  of  Dogmatic  Preposses¬ 

sions  .  108 


Contents 


LECTURE  PAGE 

6.  Bondage  to  Historical  and  Hered¬ 

itary  Accidents .  Ill 

7.  Failure  of  All  Other  Plans  for 

Union  .  114 

III.  The  Specific  Contributions  of  the 

Teaching  Pastor  .  117 

1.  Leadership  in  Sane  Bible  Study.  .  117 

2.  Moral  Courage  in  Facing  Truth  .  118 

3.  Emphasis  upon  Life  Above  Litera¬ 

ture  .  119 

4.  If  All  Ministers  Were  Teaching 

Pastors  .  121 

VI.  Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Minis¬ 
try  .  124-150 

Every  Form  of  Ministry  Has  Its  Own 
Spiritual  Value .  124 

I.  Personal  Values .  124 

1.  Mental,  Social,  Ethical,  and  De¬ 

votional  Values  .  124 

2.  Repose  of  Entire  Rational  Na¬ 

ture  .  125 

3.  Nourishment  of  Spirit  While 

Feeding  Others  .  127 

4.  The  Spiritual  Blessedness  of 

Teaching  .  128 

II.  Appreciation  of  the  Bible .  129 

1.  Revelation  Through  History _  129 

2.  The  Religious  Value  of  Human 

Experiences  .  131 

3.  Divine  Use  of  Current  Vehicles  .  132 

4.  The  Permanent  Values  of  the 

Bible  .  133 


Contents 


LECTURE  PAGE 

III.  Values  Seen  in  Human  Life .  135 

1.  The  Place  of  the  Bible  in  Relig¬ 

ious  Life .  135 

2.  The  Social  Value  of  Biblical 

Ideals  .  136 

3.  The  Democracy  of  Religious 

Truth  .  137 

4.  The  Increase  of  Reverence 

Through  Knowledge  .  138 

5.  How  the  Bible  Was  Meant  to 

Guide  Life .  139 

IV.  The  Knowledge  of  God .  140 

1.  God’s  Revelation  of  Himself  Pro¬ 

gressive  .  141 

2.  The  Steady  Development  Toward 

Theism  .  145 

3.  The  Reality  of  God .  146 

4.  God  Works  Now  as  Hitherto .  148 


LECTURE  I 


THE  NEED  AND  OPPORTUNITY  FOR  HIS 

MINISTRY 

Concentration  of  Functions  in  the  Pastor  s  Work 

We  are  not  unmindful  of  the  work  which  the 
modern  pastor  is  called  upon  to  do.  All  functions 
of  the  ministry  outlined  in  the  New  Testament  are 
now  expected  of  one  man,  and  in  addition  many 
other  forms  of  service  that  were  not  contemplated 
by  the  church  in  the  first  century,  due  to  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  human  life  and  of  the  church  itself.  Possi¬ 
bly  in  the  future,  at  a  time  not  yet  visible  to  us, 
all  these  particular  groups  which  now  are  separated 
into  denominations  seeking  to  build  up  themselves, 
may  come  together,  and  once  more  we  may  have  a 
number  of  men  and  women  exercising  the  functions 
described  by  the  New  Testament.  Our  present  divi¬ 
sions,  with  their  clamor  for  money  for  self-support 
and  sectarian  propaganda,  make  it  financially  im¬ 
possible,  with  rare  exceptions,  for  Christians  in  a 
local  church  to  have  the  ministry  existing  in  the 
early  undivided  group.  The  same  sad  condition 
forces  upon  a  single  human  being  not  only  the  func¬ 
tion  for  which  he  is  fitted,  but  many  others  in  which 
neither  personality  nor  training  could  make  him  ex¬ 
pert.  Special  endowments  for  diverse  services  are 
recognized  in  the  New  Testament,1  each  of  which 

1  Rom.  12  :  6-9  ;  1  Cor.  12  :  4-11  ;  Eph.  4  :  11-13  ;  1  Peter  4  :  10,  11. 

1 


2 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


the  Holy  Spirit  craves  for  the  upbuilding  of  the 
church.  It  is  only  one  of  the  shameful  results  of 
schisms  in  the  Body  of  Christ  that  local  churches 
are  denied  the  help  of  all  these  various  functions, 
each  performed  by  a  person  specially  gifted  and 
trained. 

Far  be  it  from  our  purpose,  then,  to  minimize  or 
underestimate  any  form  of  ministry  to  the  church 
and  to  the  world.  The  Holy  Spirit  would  use  any 
ability  which  any  individual  Christian  has  and  con¬ 
secrate  that  to  the  development  of  individual  life 
and  to  the  growth  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  evil 
days  of  sectarianism,  with  its  financial  burdens  and 
consequent  waste,  not  only  prevent  church-members 
from  having  the  full  help  they  need,  but  impose 
upon  one  man  the  functions  distributed  among  many 
in  the  early  church.  He  must  be  preacher,  pastor, 
teacher,  exhorter,  administrator,  student,  counselor, 
source  of  knowledge  and  wisdom,  evangelist,  mis¬ 
sionary,  and  all  else.  This  is  too  much  for  any  one 
person.  None  is  so  wonderfully  gifted  in  person¬ 
ality  as  to  discharge  skilfully  all  these  offices.  No 
college  or  seminary  training  can  produce  such  a 
prodigy.  The  time  may  come  when  our  unhappy 
sectarian  divisions  may  seem  less  important  than 
the  “  perfecting  of  the  saints  for  the  work  of  minis¬ 
tration,  for  the  building  up  of  the  body  of  Christ; 
until  we  all  attain  to  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  to  a  mature  manhood, 
to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of 
Christ.1 ”  2  But  it  will  come  only  when  the  “  ascen¬ 
sion  gifts  ”  in  all  their  variety  are  at  work,  and  the 
pastor  is  not  expected  to  converge  all  in  himself. 

2  Eph.  4  :  12,  13. 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  3 


I.  The  Need  for  the  Teaching  Ministry 

If  these  lectures  emphasize  the  need  for  one 
special  function,  that  of  teaching,  it  is  not  because 
any  others  are  held  to  be  of  less  importance.  All 
are  necessary.  We  lay  stress  upon  the  teaching 
function  because  of  the  conditions  that  seem  to  call 
for  this  special  ministry. 

Let  us  think  of  the  need  for  this  function.  Is  it 
not  as  true  today  as  of  those  early  Hebrew  Chris¬ 
tians,  and  with  much  less  excuse  than  they  had,  that 
our  church-members  should  be  teachers  and  yet  have 
need  that  some  one  should  instruct  them  ? 3  How 
many  have  left  the  elements  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ 
and  have  pressed  on  to  maturity  ? 4 

1.  Enlightening  Ignorance  of  the  Bible 

Consider  the  lack  of  intelligence  as  to  the  Bible. 
It  is  not  at  all  idle  to  ask  the  question  of  Philip  to 
the  Ethiopian  pilgrim,  “  Understandest  thou  what 
thou  readest?”  And  the  honest  answer  of  the 
African6  would  be  in  the  mouths  of  most  Christians, 
“How  can  I,  except  some  one  should  guide  me?” 
The  simple  fact  is  that  the  rank  and  file  of  our  church- 
members  do  not  know  the  Bible.  They  are  living 
upon  so  much  of  its  truth  as  has  come  to  them  in 
sermons,  or  has  been  obtained  through  other  chan¬ 
nels.  The  great  ethical  ideals  of  the  Scriptures  are 
known  not  only  by  church-members,  but  by  the 
world  outside.  But  the  book  itself  is  a  sealed  volume 
to  most  of  those  who  call  themselves  Christian.  They 
love  it,  sing  about  it,  give  money  for  its  circulation, 


3  Heb.  5  :  12. 


4  Heb.  6  :  2. 


5  Acts  8  :  30,  31. 


4 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


read  short  selections  before  going  to  bed  at  night, 
with  the  aid  of  lesson  helps  try  to  extract  spiritual 
meaning  from  detached  sections  in  Sunday  schools, 
fight  about  its  meaning,  dispute  over  systems  of 
doctrine  supposed  to  be  taught  in  the  volume — in 
short,  do  everything  except  faithfully,  systemati¬ 
cally  study  the  priceless  literature,  which  records  the 
highest  human  experience  of  God  during  the  days 
in  which  its  different  books  were  written. 

Our  very  aphorisms  commit  us  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures.  Such  sayings  as  Chillingworth’s, 
“  The  Bible  and  the  Bible  only  is  the  religion  of 
Protestants,' ”  or  that  of  Campbell,  adopted  by  the 
Disciples  denomination,  “  Where  the  Scriptures 
speak  we  speak;  and  where  they  are  silent  we  are 
silent,”  or  Paul’s,6  “  Thus  saith  the  Scriptures,”  or 
the  Baptist’s,7  “  The  New  Testament  is  the  all-suffi¬ 
cient  ground  of  our  faith  and  practise,”  and  others 
equally  well-known  would  seem  to  commit  all  who 
use  them  to  patient,  diligent  study  of  the  Bible.  In 
spite  of  years  of  handling  the  material  book,  of 
attendance  upon  the  Sunday  school,  and  of  faithful 
churchgoing,  the  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures  is 
amazing.  The  minds  of  most  Christians  contain 
the  crudest  conceptions  of  what  the  book  really  is. 
Earnest  people,  sincere  in  their  motives,  have  re¬ 
sorted  to  all  kinds  of  devices  to  discover  so-called 
spiritual  meanings  in  verses  entirely  severed  from 
their  connections  and  considered  without  reference 
to  the  purposes  of  the  writer.  Councils  for  the 
ordination  of  men  to  the  gospel  ministry  have  put 
the  seal  of  their  approval  upon  candidates  whose 

6  Gal.  4  :  30. 

7  Northern  Baptist  Convention  Annual,  1922,  p.  133,  Item  118. 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  5 


examination  showed  no  knowledge  whatever  of  the 
mere  contents  of  the  Bible,  much  less  of  the  mes¬ 
sages  of  its  books.  There  are  in  the  ministry  today 
many  men  whose  lives  indeed  are  pure  and  blame¬ 
less,  who  have  been  given  a  denominational  standing- 
equal  to  that  of  the  ripest  scholar,  who  have  been 
put  in  positions  of  leadership  and  stand  before 
the  public  as  authoritative  interpreters  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  of  which  they  know  little.  No  one  can  wonder 
at  the  amazing  lack  of  Biblical  knowledge  by  church- 
members  when  such  men  are  shepherds  of  the  peo¬ 
ple,  or  when  competent  pastors  are  overburdened 
with  the  cares  of  preaching,  visiting,  administration, 
public  service,  and  other  responsibilities  that  con¬ 
sume  all  the  time  and  strength  of  one  man.  If  one 
were  asked  concerning  the  efficiency  of  Sunday- 
school  methods  in  the  past,  it  would  be  enough  to 
answer  that  those  who  have  for  years  been  members 
of  Sunday  schools  have  not  become  qualified  to  teach 
the  only  book  they  were  studying.  What  is  to  be 
thought  of  an  institution  called  a  “  school  ”  when 
those  who  have  pursued  its  curriculum  are  incom¬ 
petent  to  teach  the  very  literature  they  have  been 
supposed  to  study? 

2.  Correcting  Mistaken  Ideas 

The  pastor  should  correct  mistaken  ideas,  pro¬ 
duced  not  only  by  inaccurate  conceptions  of  what 
the  Bible  is,  but  also  by  faulty  methods  of  Bible 
study.  Conceptions  of  God,  of  providence,  of  sin, 
and  of  many  other  religious  factors  have  suffered 
because  of  erroneous  methods  of  study.  No  intelli¬ 
gent  minister  will  live  long  with  the  average  congre¬ 
gation  before  he  discovers  these  errors.  This  is  a 


6 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


serious  matter.  People  have  rightly  been  taught  to 
attach  high  authority  to  the  Scriptures.  They  have 
been  declared  to  be  the  rule  of  faith  and  practise 
among  Christians.  It  is,  therefore,  no  light  matter 
to  appeal  to  them.  When  a  high  ideal  of  Biblical 
authority  is  joined  with  mistaken  methods  of  inter¬ 
pretation  and  ignorance  of  what  the  Bible  really 
teaches,  the  lives  of  sincere  but  misguided  people 
are  harmed.  Many  have  put  divine  authority  be¬ 
hind  their  erroneous  conceptions.  The  result  has 
been  distortion,  deformity,  and  disease  of  spiritual 
life.  Here  a  real  healing  ministry  is  possible.  Souls 
that  have  known  the  afflictions  of  their  errors  can 
be  restored  to  comfort,  peace,  joy,  and  enthusiasm 
by  the  teaching  of  the  pastor.  Those  who  have 
known  the  delight  of  this  ministry  can  easily  recall 
many  illustrations  of  deliverance  from  the  blight 
of  mistaken  ideas.  When  one  has  understood  the 
truth  uttered  by  our  Lord8  that  the  kingdom  of  God 
has  developed  “  First  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after 
that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear,”  and  that  this  has  been 
the  method  by  which  God  has  unfolded  himself  in 
the  experiences  of  men  as  recorded  in  the  Scriptures, 
then  such  a  soul  is  relieved  of  the  burden  of  crude 
beliefs  which  have  come  from  exalting  into  finality 
the  early,  partial,  and  incomplete  revelations  of 
religious  ideas.  The  correction  of  these  mistaken 
opinions  which  control  the  lives  of  earnest  Chris¬ 
tians  comes  by  education  through  the  teaching  min¬ 
istry  of  the  pastor. 

The  persistence  of  what  is  learned  in  early  years 
is  well  known.  It  is  hard  to  unlearn.  When  Peter 
was  on  the  housetop  at  Joppa,  and  the  delayed 


8  Mark  4  :  28. 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  7 


dinner  only  whetted  his  hunger,  he  fell  into  a  trance 
and  saw  a  whole  menagerie  let  down  from  heaven. 
God  would  teach  him  readiness  to  receive  the  mes¬ 
sengers  of  the  Roman  Cornelius.  But  the  heart 
of  the  Jew  had  little  hospitality  for  the  Gentile. 
Three  times  the  vision  came,  thrice  the  voice.  The 
only  answer  was :  9  “  Not  so,  Lord ;  for  I  never  have.” 
Neither  in  trance  nor  in  sane  wakefulness  could  this 
apostle  understand,  for  “  he  doubted  in  himself  what 
this  vision  which  he  had  seen  should  mean.”  How 
many  times  the  teacher  is  met  by  that  Petrine  con¬ 
sistency!  To  all  that  would  introduce  new  truth, 
sane  but  unfamiliar  methods,  it  has  been  thought 
an  ample  reason  for  clinging  to  a  mistaken  notion 
to  reply,  “  Not  so,  I  never  have.”  Peter  soon  learned 
that  he  was  not  inspired  in  his  refusal,  nor  was  his 
past  experience  infallible  as  a  guide.  One  wonders 
why  he  had  not  learned  the  lesson  before,  when  in 
the  Petrine  Gospel  of  Mark  10  there  is  recorded  our 
Lord’s  revolutionary  teaching  concerning  the  im¬ 
possibility  of  defilement  by  eating.  Was  it  not  after 
this  experience  and  also  after  his  inconsistent  ac¬ 
tions  at  Antioch11  that  his  Gospel  was  written  by 
Mark,  and  he  added  to  the  words  of  Jesus  about  un¬ 
clean  foods  the  comment,12  “  This  he  said,  making 
all  foods  clean”?  If  it  was  so  hard  for  Jesus  by 
direct  teaching,  and  the  heavenly  Father  through  a 
vision,  to  teach  a  truth  to  one  of  the  greatest  of  the 
Twelve,  we  must  not  expect  an  easy  time  now  in 
displacing  mistaken  conceptions.  Yet  precisely  that 
ministry  is  necessary  for  Christians  and  the  growth 
of  the  Christian  society. 

9  Acts  10  :  9-17.  11  Gal.  2  :  12. 

10  Mark  7  :  14-23.  12  Mark  7  :  19  A.  R.  V. 


8 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


3.  Preventing  Wrong  Conceptions 

There  is  also  a  preventive  ministry  which  the 
pastor  can  exercise.  It  is  far  better  to  teach  truth 
that  will  never  have  to  be  unlearned  than  to  suffer 
faulty  conceptions  to  take  root  and  then  expose  the 
soul  to  the  painful  process  of  pulling  out  the  tares 
from  the  mind  and  heart.  The  teaching  pastor  can 
at  least  make  his  people  acquainted  with  sane 
methods  of  interpretation,  can  cause  them  to  see 
that  results  depend  upon  processes,  that  the  teach¬ 
ings  of  the  Bible  are  not  always  to  be  gathered  from 
the  surface  of  the  literature  by  any  silly,  fanciful, 
or  lazy  saint,  that  the  understanding  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  must  be  the  fruit  of  an  intelligent  method  of 
study.  He  can  go  far  to  forestall  wild  speculation 
from  making  inroads  upon  his  congregation.  Igno¬ 
rance  is  the  soil  in  which  all  kinds  of  soul-blights 
flourish.  These  are  fungi  that  grow  upon  the  tree 
of  knowledge  where  the  pastoral  forester  does  not 
protect  it.  They  are  fads  that  flourish  in  the  ab¬ 
sence  of  real  instruction.  There  are  many  who 
wrest  the  Scriptures  to  their  own  destruction.13  Our 
Protestant  churches  have  become  fertile  soil  for 
many  so-called  religious  movements  that  appeal  to 
genuine  religious  instincts,  but  poison  the  minds 
of  men  and  women  with  grotesque  views  of  God, 
the  error  of  the  unreality  of  sin,  a  wretched  carica¬ 
ture  of  Jesus,  and  other  hideous  distortions  of  truth. 
Our  people  have  been  taught  to  revere  the  Bible 
as  the  word  of  God,  but  have  not  been  properly  edu¬ 
cated  or  trained  in  methods  of  interpretation.  It 
is  easy  to  realize  that  these  so-called  religious  move- 


13  2  Peter  3:16. 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  9 


ments,  many  of  them  so  grotesque  as  to  defy  any 
adjective  which  our  vocabulary  possesses,  could 
never  have  been  originated  and  propagated  unless 
they  had  begun  and  continued  through  faulty  ideas 
of  the  Bible,  and  erroneous  processes  of  interpret¬ 
ing  it. 

The  remedy  is  not  denunciation,  nor  satire,  nor 
ridicule;  it  is  education.  Those  who  have  tried  to 
pursue  this  ministry  have  often  seen  really  pious 
and  earnest  people  in  the  effort  to  satisfy  their 
heart-hungers  for  spiritual  reality  prevented  from 
going  astray  by  a  sane  method  of  interpreting  the 
Bible.  Indeed,  this  prophylactic  ministry  is  the 
critical  thing.  The  minister  who  uses  his  Bible  sim¬ 
ply  as  a  collection  of  texts  without  regard  to  the 
significance  of  the  words  of  his  text  in  the  mind 
of  the  one  who  wrote  or  spoke  them,  is  deliberately 
leading  his  people  into  the  opinion  that  it  made  no 
difference  with  Biblical  writers  or  speakers  what 
they  were  saying,  and  that  it  makes  no  difference 
with  us  what  they  did  say  or  mean,  provided  we  can 
use  their  language  as  a  motto  from  which  we  can 
derive  divine  authority  for  our  own  notions.  So 
great  is  the  need  for  this  preventive  ministry  of 
the  teaching  pastor  that  people  are  bewildered  by 
counter  claims  of  those  who  urge  the  fads  and  those 
who  combat  them.  Often  it  is  more  difficult  to  de¬ 
cide  who  knows  less  of  the  Scriptures,  those  who 
seek  to  establish  their  mistaken  notions  by  appeal 
to  the  Bible,  or  those  who  go  to  the  Bible  for  weapons 
to  destroy  such  notions.  Frequently  both  alike  show 
equal  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures.  The  teaching 
pastor  will  so  ground  his  people  in  a  true  idea  of 
what  the  Bible  is,  and  in  sane  methods  of  studying 


10 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


it  that  they  will  be  unaffected  by  either  the  queer 
and  fanciful  ideas  that  the  incompetent  imagine  they 
derive  from  the  Scriptures,  or  the  ridiculous 
methods  by  which  such  ideas  are  obtained.  If  Mrs. 
Mary  Baker  Eddy  had  known  either  what  the  Bible 
really  is,  or  the  proper  way  to  study  it,  there  would 
never  have  been  any  such  thing  as  “  Christian 
Science.”  And  if  our  pastors  now  realized  the 
nature  of  the  Scriptures  and  how  to  understand 
them,  and  faithfully  educated  their  flocks  in  both 
these  matters,  there  would  be  no  straying  into  these 
grotesque  folds  except  by  those  who  were  determined 
not  to  know  the  truth. 

4.  Helping  in  Practical  Living 

This  teaching  ministry  will  vastly  help  the  practi¬ 
cal  living  of  Christians.  It  is  a  sad  sight  upon 
which  no  one  likes  to  gaze — this  spectacle  of  souls 
misled  by  misused  Scriptures.  Some  persons  take 
the  very  words  of  an  English  translation  as  talis- 
manic.  They  think  there  is  a  magical  force  in  the 
language  of  the  Bible.  I  have  known  deeply  pious 
church-members  to  open  the  book  at  random  and 
construe  the  first  words  that  met  their  eyes  as  indi¬ 
cating  the  will  of  God  for  their  guidance  in  the  par¬ 
ticular  perplexity  that  existed.  I  have  known  Chris¬ 
tians  to  take  the  Bible  by  the  covers,  and  hold  it  a 
few  inches  above  a  table  and  drop  it,  and  then  put 
an  index  finger  into  the  tangled  leaves,  and  assume 
that  the  particular  text  upon  which  the  tip  of  the 
forefinger  rested  was  sent  to  them  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
for  their  guidance  at  that  particular  moment.  Many 
other  equally  insane  methods  of  dealing  with  the 
Bible  have  prevailed  far  too  frequently.  Of  course 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  il 


this  is  divination  pure  and  simple.  Such  persons 
are  the  lineal  spiritual  descendants  of  those  who 
sought  the  will  of  God  through  haruspication,  as¬ 
trology,  lots,  and  other  fortuitous  methods.  The 
evil  effects  upon  the  lives  of  those  who  treat  the 
Scriptures  in  this  way  cannot  be  exaggerated. 
There  have  been  used  disconnected  texts  that  had 
absolutely  no  relation  to  one  another,  or  to  the 
problems  whose  solution  was  sought.  These  have 
been  strung  upon  the  threads  of  thought,  as  beads 
of  different  material,  shape,  and  color  would  be 
strung,  and  the  necklace  of  texts  thus  formed  has 
been  worn  around  the  soul  as  an  amulet,  as  a  kind 
of  scapular.  We  are  relating  only  what  has  actually 
been  seen.  No  one  can  distinguish  between  the 
superstition  which  thus  uses  texts  of  Scripture  and 
that  which  uses  other  material,  ornithological, 
visceral,  or  what  not  to  obtain  divine  guidance. 

There  have  been  many  so-called  “  Bible  readings  ” 
in  which  “concordance  theology  ”  has  been  the  goal 
of  the  reader.  Words  change  during  centuries  be¬ 
cause  life  continually  pours  its  fulness  into  language. 
Men  have  rummaged  through  the  books  of  the  Bible, 
have  assumed  that  the  same  words  always  mean 
the  same  thing,  that  the  Scriptures  were  like  a 
storehouse  of  automobile  parts,  and  that  all  that 
the  reader  had  to  do  was  to  pick  out  a  part 
wherever  he  could  find  it  under  the  belief  that  every 
part  was  standardized  and  all  alike  wherever  found. 
There  is  no  telling  what  harm  has  been  done  by 
these  unintelligent  Bible  readings  that  fail  utterly 
to  take  into  account  the  differences  of  situation 
and  purpose  which  produced  different  parts  of  the 
Scriptures. 


12 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


Who  can  estimate  the  number  of  persons  who 
have  been  misled  by  the  methods  alluded  to,  and  by 
others  we  will  not  take  time  to  indicate?  When 
honest  and  sincere  souls  surrender  themselves  to 
a  spiritual  conception  as  being  the  will  of  God  for 
human  life,  the  utmost  care  should  be  taken  that  the 
idea  to  which  we  surrender  is  really  and  truly  the 
mind  of  God.  All  this  is  only  to  say  that  sane 
methods  of  Bible  study  and  true  methods  of  pastoral 
teachings  have  enormous  value  for  perfecting  the 
saints  in  the  holy  life.  After  all,  lives  are  simply 
the  fruit  of  ideals.  As  Jesus  was  the  Word  made 
flesh,  so  our  lives  are  the  incarnations  of  our  concep¬ 
tions  of  truth.  Jesus  declared,14  “  I  am  the  truth.” 
He  was  indeed  the  reality  lived  before  us,  and  there 
is  no  higher  calling  of  the  pastor  than  so  to  present 
spiritual  reality  that  men  may  love  it  and  live  it. 
“He  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness, 
but  shall  have  the  light  of  life.”  15  To  understand 
Jesus,  to  find  the  principles  of  living  incarnated  in 
him,  to  interpret  his  life  rightly,  and  spare  no  effort 
to  learn  from  him,  is  to  find  the  way  of  life.  There 
is  no  use  of  the  Scriptures  so  worth  while  as  this, 
and  to  this  the  teaching  pastor  can  lead  his  people. 

5.  Neutralizing  Unintelligent  Teaching 

The  need  for  this  teaching  ministry  by  the  pastor 
is  also  revealed  in  the  unintelligent  methods  of 
teaching  which  have  arisen,  and  of  institutions 
which  are  based  upon  them.  Some  of  these  are 
dominated  by  theories,  and  the  attempt  is  made  to 
press  facts  into  the  molds  of  these  theories.  Surely 

u  John  14  :  G. 

«  John  8  :  12. 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  13 


in  dealing  with  divine  things  the  spiritual  and 
ethical  order  must  be  first  the  facts,  and  then  the 
interpretation  of  the  facts,  and  then  the  theories 
which  grow  out  of  these  realities  as  understood. 
The  Scriptures  themselves  are  continually  revealing 
to  us  the  misfortunes  that  come  from  preconcep¬ 
tions.  When  Naaman,  the  Syrian,  went  to  the 
prophet,  through  every  step  of  the  journey  he  was 
under  the  spell  of  a  preconception.  “  Behold,  I 
thought,”  he  said,16  and  came  near  missing  the  great 
aim  of  his  journey  because  of  his  preconceptions. 
John  the  Baptist  had  a  program  for  the  Messiah, 
and  when  his  program  was  not  carried  out  he  ap¬ 
pointed  a  committee  of  two  of  his  followers  to  ask 
Jesus  whether  he  was  really  the  Messiah,  or  whether 
he  should  look  for  some  one  else.17  We  cannot  en¬ 
large  upon  the  inevitable  disappointments  that  come 
to  human  life  when  it  is  either  built  upon  theories 
which  facts  do  not  justify,  or  orders  itself  by  the¬ 
ories  and  then  seeks  to  compress  facts  into  accord 
with  preconceptions.  There  is  a  terrible  waste  of 
money  in  sustaining  institutions  that  violate  the 
divine  order  just  alluded  to;  a  junking  of  life  that 
tries  to  order  itself  by  first  forming  theories  and 
then  irreverently  pressing  facts  into  conformity 
with  theories.  The  rude  awakening  which  is  in¬ 
evitable  when  once  the  majesty  of  facts  is  perceived 
and  conscience  affirms  their  authority,  and  theories 
are  shattered,  has  often  been  experienced,  and 
brings  no  comfort  to  any  soul.  If  the  shepherd  of 
souls  seeks  to  lead  his  sheep  into  the  pastures  which 
the  Bible  provides,  and  feeds  the  minds  and  emo- 

16  2  Kings  5. 

’7  Matt.  3  :  7-12;  11  :  2-6. 


14 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


tions  and  souls  of  his  flock  upon  the  great  facts 
which  patient,  intelligent  study  of  the  Scriptures 
provides,  he  will  save  his  people  from  many  a  jar 
and  from  experiences  that  in  the  end  will  inevitably 
bring  all  kinds  of  disappointment.  Surely  there 
can  be  no  greater  need  for  Christian  people  than 
to  become  wise  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scrip¬ 
tures.  They  will  be  made  wise  unto  salvation,  which 
means  full  of  wisdom  in  the  right  relation  to  God 
and  to  their  fellow  men. 

II.  The  Opportunity  for  This  Ministry 

1.  The  Official  Position  as  Pastor 

Sincerity  alone  is  not  enough.18  It  demands  the 
aid  of  intelligence.  Well-meaning  people  need  the 
light  that  comes  from  the  use  of  methods  that  are 
sane  and  commend  themselves  to  our  rational 
natures.  God  never  gave  us  our  intellectual  powers 
that  we  might  insult  them  in  the  name  of  Christ.19 
Untrained  pastors  cannot  fulfil  the  teaching  min¬ 
istry.  The  blind  cannot  lead  the  blind  without  dis¬ 
aster  to  both.20  Nor  can  an  ill-prepared  minister 
hope  to  accomplish  for  his  people  the  ideals  herein¬ 
before  set  forth.  Unintentionally,  but  none  the  less 
really,  all  institutions  that  would  send  out  into  the 
pastorate  men  who  cannot  teach  because  they  do 
not  know,  are  retarding  the  development  of  the 
church  at  large.  The  greatest  need  of  the  church 
today  is  the  leadership  of  a  teaching  ministry.  Peo¬ 
ple  look  to  the  pastor  for  instruction.  It  is  possible 
for  him,  by  virtue  of  his  continuous  relation,  to 

18  Acts  26  :  9.  19  Matt.  6  :  22,  23.  20  Matt.  15  :  14. 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  15 


concentrate  and  make  cumulative  his  educational 
ministry,  without  sacrificing  other  essential  aspects 
of  his  work.  Churches  seldom  think  about  this  min¬ 
istry  when  considering  a  pastor.  His  ability  to 
preach  is  the  main  consideration,  and  the  prophetic 
skill  of  a  “  candidate  ”  is  judged  by  one  or  two  show 
sermons.  This  is  but  little  more  sensible  than  form¬ 
ing  an  idea  of  the  architecture  of  a  house,  its  inside 
plan,  and  furnishings  by  taking  a  few  bricks  from 
the  walls  as  samples.  What  committee  to  nominate 
a  pastor  ever  asks  about  his  equipment  and  ability 
for  teaching?  And  yet  he  is  all  the  time  teaching 
by  virtue  of  his  very  ministry.  Sundays  and  in 
midweek  services,  on  all  occasions,  whether  he  is 
conscious  of  it  or  not,  he  is  teaching  something. 
Why  not  use  his  relation  to  his  charge  intelligently, 
and  deliberately  plan  that  his  ministry  shall  be  edu¬ 
cational  as  well  as  hortatory? 

When  we  say  “  educational,”  we  do  not  mean  a 
mere  eruption  of  information  from  public  addresses, 
as  if  the  pulpit  or  platform  were  to  be  an  encyclo¬ 
pedic  volcano  with  the  preacher  as  its  loquacious 
crater.  Far  different  is  the  idea.  Education  is  the 
unfolding  of  life,  the  stimulation  and  development 
of  all  the  powers  of  personality.  And  for  this 
supreme  ideal  for  the  ministry  there  is  no  literature 
so  serviceable  as  the  Bible,  and  no  ministerial  work 
so  fruitful  as  that  which  makes  others  know  the 
nature  of  the  Scriptures,  and  endows  one’s  parish¬ 
ioners  with  correct  methods  of  Bible  study.  Such  an 
opportunity  is  inherent  in  the  very  relation  of  the 
pastor.  Long  after  any  mere  emotion  he  may  arouse 
has  faded  away,  long  after  any  dazzling  rhetorical 
picture  he  has  painted  by  the  free  use  of  lurid  ad- 


16 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


jectives  has  vanished  into  the  cold,  gray  waste  of 
prosaic  life,  long  after  flashings  of  scintillating 
phrases  have  died  away  into  oblivion,  there  will 
endure  the  deep  convictions  of  truth  made  by  the 
teaching  ministry.  God  forbid  that  any  one  should 
marry  dulness  to  reality,  or  dryness  to  the  water 
of  life.  The  teaching  pastor  will  build  into  lives  he 
touches  the  very  heart-beats  of  Biblical  characters, 
and  will  in  time  lead  his  flock  into  fellowship  with 
all  the  great  and  good  whose  lives  are  recorded  in 
the  Scriptures.  No  other  calling  offers  such  an 
opportunity  as  does  the  ministry,  and  in  that  call¬ 
ing  only  the  teaching  pastor  seizes  upon  that  oppor¬ 
tunity. 

2.  Control  of  Church  School  Instruction 

If  the  pastor  rightly  controls  instruction  in  his 
church  school,  he  can  through  others  further  this 
teaching  ministry.  He  should  make  the  Sunday 
school  a  genuine  educational  institution,  organized 
and  constructed  upon  true  educational  ideals.  The 
curriculum  of  the  school  must  rest  upon  intelligent 
conceptions  of  the  Bible,  a  broad  and  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  it,  and  instruction  therein  must  be 
based  upon  correct  pedagogical  principles.  There 
is  no  other  sane  way  of  giving  to  both  young  and 
old  alike  the  truth  which  is  the  instrument  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  regeneration  of  men  and  their 
growth  in  Christian  character.  The  church  school 
should  not  be  a  mere  Sunday  morning  or  afternoon 
day-nursery  for  children  to  give  a  period  of  relief 
to  uninterested  parents.  The  adult  members  of  the 
church  without  regard  to  age  should  be  brought  into 
the  church  school  for  this  very  instruction  we  are 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  17 


advocating.  Under  the  guidance  of  the  pastor  the 
fruits  of  the  church  school  should  be  not  only  edu¬ 
cational  evangelism  for  the  young;  but  an  intelli¬ 
gent  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  by  everybody,  and 
as  the  crowning  achievement  of  the  school  the  train¬ 
ing  of  church-members  by  virtue  of  their  exper¬ 
iences  therein.  It  is  naturally  to  be  expected  that 
any  real  educational  institution  shall  so  train  those 
who  have  pursued  its  courses  of  study  that  they] 
shall  become  competent  to  teach  what  they  have 
learned.  Every  pastor  should  redeem  the  Sunday- 
school  idea  from  the  vain  and  empty  and  often  con¬ 
temptuous  significance  into  which  it  has  fallen. 
Church-members  without  regard  to  age  should  be 
impressed  with  the  truth  that  attendance  upon  or 
absence  from  the  church  school  indicates  a  revela¬ 
tion  of  their  interest  in  or  indifference  to  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  Scriptures.  Here  is  a  ready-made  op¬ 
portunity  for  the  pastor  to  emphasize  his  teaching 
ministry. 

If  it  be  objected  that  laymen  control  the  church 
school  and  are  unwilling  to  yield  to  sensible  ideals 
for  its  educational  conduct,  or  are  unwilling  to  fit 
themselves  to  realize  these  ideals  in  their  manage¬ 
ment  of  the  institution,  then  somehow  they  must  be 
brought  to  see  that  their  petrifaction,  or  their  Dio- 
trephesian  appetite 21  must  yield  to  the  spiritual 
interests  of  the  young,  and  the  efficiency  of  the 
school  as  an  institution.  The  present  gratifying 
interest  in  church-school  development  only  enhances 
the  opportunity  of  the  qualified  pastor  in  the  realm 
of  religious  education  where  the  Bible  must  continue 
to  be  central. 


21  3  John  9. 


18 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


3.  Week-day  Classes  for  Study 

There  is  no  reason  why  instruction  should  be 
limited  to  one  day  of  the  week.  In  many  places, 
and  many  churches,  boys  and  girls  are  gathered  for 
an  hour  after  school  once  or  twice  a  week,  and  the 
most  helpful  results  follow.  Certain  denominations 
are  emphasizing  these  additional  hours  for  religious 
instruction,  and  their  achievements  should  inspire 
others  to  imitation.  The  Bible  and  stereopticon  pic¬ 
tures  and  even  moving  pictures  are  used.  When 
these  week-day  sessions  of  the  church  school  are 
held  they  become  interesting,  provided  instruction 
is  given  in  a  way  suitable  to  those  who  attend,  and 
the  work  is  made  to  be  genuinely  educational.  Again 
what  better  use  could  be  made  of  the  midweek  eve¬ 
ning  service  than  to  center  it  around  the  Bible? 
From  all  over  the  land  there  come  the  tidings  that 
the  prayer-meeting  is  a  hard  service  to  maintain. 
No  wonder.  The  saints  do  not  have  spiritual  ex¬ 
periences  enough  to  keep  an  “  experience  meeting  ” 
fresh  and  without  monotony.  The  faithful  who  are 
regular  attendants  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  one 
another's  experiences.  They  have  heard  the  victrola 
disk  testimonies  until  these  have  become  monotonous 
and  soporific.  No  outsiders  come  to  whom  can  be 
told  these  so-called  Christian  experiences  in  the 
effort  to  allure  them  into  participation  in  such  ex¬ 
periences,  and  certainly  many  narrations  are  such 
that  none  would  crave  to  reproduce  them  in  his 
own  life.  Why  not  use  the  midweek  evening  service 
as  a  regular  hour  for  sane  and  systematic  Bible 
study?  The  men  could  then  attend.  In  a  few  years 
those  who  came  to  such  a  meeting  would  have  a 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  19 


deepened  interest  in  and  a  fuller  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures. 

Again,  why  not  have  as  a  regular  part  of  the 
pastor’s  work  a  stated  morning  week-day  hour  for 
systematic  Bible  study?  Many  women  who  for 
domestic  reasons  could  not  attend  the  church  school 
on  Sunday  mornings,  or  for  reasons  of  prudence 
and  safety  could  not  go  out  alone  to  the  midweek 
evening  service,  would  be  present.  One  pastor  has 
had  such  an  hour  from  eleven  o’clock  until  noon,  one 
morning  each  week  for  many  years,  except  during 
the  World  War.  In  1916  there  were  three  hundred 
and  twenty  women  enrolled  in  the  class,  seventy- 
five  per  cent,  of  whom  were  not  members  of  that 
pastor’s  flock.  The  meetings  have  been  resumed, 
and  the  interest  is  growing.  The  story  of  how  this 
class  has  affected  persons  and  Bible  study  in  other 
churches  would  be  interesting,  but  cannot  be  told 
here. 

4.  The  Use  of  Good  Books 

In  addition  to  all  this  there  is  an  abundance  of 
good  books  easily  understood  by  the  average  person 
which  set  forth  the  results  of  reverent,  modern, 
constructive  study.  These  are  cheap  and  within 
the  reach  of  the  ordinary  man  and  woman.  Never 
before  has  this  literature  been  so  plentiful.  The 
old-fashioned  commentary  has  disappeared.  It  took 
up  each  verse  separately,  tried  to  show  its  so-called 
spiritual  meaning,  suggested  themes  for  sermons 
or  thoughts  for  exhortations  by  Sunday-school 
teachers,  and  sometimes  came  perilously  near  twist¬ 
ing  off  the  tails  of  commas  in  the  King  James'  Ver¬ 
sion  in  the  frantic  effort  to  find  religious  significance 


20 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


in  every  verse  of  the  Bible.  Today  the  main  task 
of  those  who  issue  these  books  is  to  help  the  reader 
to  understand  precisely  what  was  in  the  mind  of  the 
author  of  a  Biblical  book.  We  are  thus  relieved  by 
the  help  which  others  have  provided  from  doing  many 
things  which  have  already  been  accomplished  with 
far  greater  skill  than  most  pastors  could  hope  to 
have.  There  is  no  excuse  today  for  ignorance  con¬ 
cerning  the  Bible.  Indifference  to  it  is  the  only  reason 
that  can  honestly  be  given  for  lack  of  knowledge  con¬ 
cerning  it.  Every  phase  of  its  existence  has  been 
well  set  forth  in  books  clearly  written  and  fascinat¬ 
ing  in  contents.  The  story  of  the  manuscripts  and 
translations,  the  way  the  collection  came  to  be  gath¬ 
ered,  the  historical  setting  of  every  book  in  the 
Scriptures  and  how  and  why  it  came  to  be  written, 
are  told  by  masters  in  the  art  of  telling.  All  these 
helps  are  cheap  and  easily  understood.  The  pastor 
should  know  of  them  and  commend  them  to  his 
people,  see  that  they  are  used  as  text-books  in  the 
church  school,  introduce  them  into  homes,  and  have 
them  in  a  church  library  for  the  use  of  those  who 
might  not  otherwise  consult  them.  It  has  been  found 
possible  to  get  public  libraries  to  instal  these  books 
for  the  general  use  of  the  community.  What  better 
service  could  any  pastor  render  than  to  increase  the 
circulation  of  these  helps,  and  through  them  the 
knowledge  of  the  Bible?  The  large  number  of  such 
volumes  covering  all  phases  of  Bible  study  is  evi¬ 
dence  of  an  increasing  interest  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures.  This  deepening  desire  to  know  the 
Book  is  a  great  aid  to  those  pastors  who  seek  to 
make  it  the  one  book  with  which  all  Christians 
should  be  familiar. 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  21 


III.  Cautions  for  the  Teaching  Pastor 

1.  Be  Qualified 

Some  cautions  must  be  offered  to  those  who  under¬ 
take  this  service.  The  pastor  himself  should  be 
thoroughly  qualified.  Any  man  who  consents  to 
serve  a  church  should  be  equipped  to  undertake  this 
work.  No  one  will  claim  that  three  years  in  the 
cloistered  life  of  a  seminary  will  make  him  a  great 
scholar  or  a  great  teacher.  At  the  same  time  these 
years  of  special  preparation  will  put  the  student  so 
far  ahead  of  the  average  church  that  his  problem 
will  be  to  keep  in  touch  with  his  congregation.  Far 
be  it  from  our  purpose  to  criticize  the  curriculum  of 
any  theological  school.  Nevertheless,  a  seminary 
that  does  not  fit  its  graduates  to  pass  on  to  those 
whom  they  are  to  train  in  the  Christian  life  an 
enthusiasm  for  and  an  interest  in  the  Scriptures, 
cannot  be  said  to  succeed  in  its  work.  As  in  all 
things  else,  the  secret  of  successful  work  in  this 
respect  will  largely  depend  upon  the  qualification 
of  the  leader. 

2.  Gain  the  Confidence  of  the  People 

It  is  of  primary  importance  that  the  pastor  who 
undertakes  to  lead  his  people  into  the  better  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  Scriptures  should  establish  himself  in 
the  hearts  of  those  whom  he  leads.  When  we  seek 
to  lead  men  into  thoughts  which  are  new  to  them 
we  must  not  only  begin  with  the  ideas  we  find  in 
their  minds,  but  we  must  have  gained  their  trust  in 
us  as  leaders.  This  was  the  method  of  the  Great 
Teacher.  Violent  assault  upon  traditional  or  im- 


22 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


perfect  or  mistaken  ideas  can  only  produce  a  tighter 
grip  upon  them.  At  no  point  in  the  journey  which 
an  intelligent  pastor  proposes  to  make  with  those 
whom  he  teaches,  should  there  be  a  break  between 
himself  and  them.  All  assumption  of  authority  must 
be  set  aside.  People  will  listen  to  one  in  whose 
Christian  life  they  have  confidence,  if  his  methods 
respect  the  personality  and  history  of  those  whom 
he  wishes  to  follow.  The  surest  way  to  fail  is  to 
begin  by  antagonizing  those  whom  we  would  lead, 
by  ruthlessly  tearing  away  ideas  that  have  been 
cherished.  Humbly  and  modestly  we  must  seek  to  go 
before  those  who  follow  our  pastoral  leading.22  If 
our  lives  have  shown  a  Christian  character,  and 
our  sermons  revealed  a  genuine  devotion  to  Jesus 
Christ  and  a  sincere  love  for  the  Bible,  others  will 
listen  to  us,  and  will  walk  into  pastures  new  and 
fresh  to  them  when  their  faith  in  the  leader  is 
strong.  No  locomotive  will  pull  a  freight  train  if  the 
engineer  jerks  the  throttle  so  quickly  as  to  break 
the  couplings. 

3.  Proceed  Slowly 

Too  much  stress  cannot  be  laid  upon  the  impor¬ 
tance  of  proceeding  very  slowly.  Time  after  time 
a  pastor  has  wrecked  himself  by  haste.  There  was 
profound  philosophy  in  what  the  limping  Jacob 
said23  to  his  athletic  brother  Esau  when  they  were 
journeying  together:  “My  lord  knows  that  the 
children  are  tender,  and  the  flocks  and  herds  that 
give  suck  are  with  me ;  and  if  they  drive  them  hard 
one  day,  all  the  flock  will  die.  I  will  lead  on  in 
my  slow  way,  at  the  pace  of  the  cattle  that  are 

22  John  10  :  4.  23  Gen.  33  :  13. 


Need  and  Opportunity  for  His  Ministry  23 


r 

before  me,  and  at  the  pace  of  the  children  until  I 
come  to  my  lord  to  Seir.”  The  wise  pastor  will  see 
that  there  are  no  shocks  beyond  those  of  pleasant 
surprises,  of  beautiful  illuminations,  and  of  unex¬ 
pected  acquaintance  with  the  richness  of  life.  Did 
not  our  Great  Teacher  say  24  to  his  followers,  “  I  have 
yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  you  cannot 
bear  them  now  ”?  All  structures  that  are  inadequate 
or  outgrown,  such  as  bridges  over  streams  or 
chasms,  can  be  replaced  by  stronger  and  better  ones, 
without  impeding  the  traffic,  if  builders  will  first 
have  the  material  on  the  ground,  each  part  accu¬ 
rately  numbered,  and  then  piece  by  piece  remove  the 
old  and  establish  the  new. 

4.  Avoid  Making  the  Pulpit  a  Laboratory 

Nor  must  the  pastor  make  his  pulpit  and  prayer¬ 
meeting  a  place  where  he  exhibits  and  describes  the 
apparatus  that  produces  results.  When  people  come 
to  worship  on  Sundays,  or  to  deal  with  the  experi¬ 
mental  and  practical  concerns  of  the  Christian  life 
at  the  week-day  services,  they  should  not  be  con¬ 
ducted  into  a  laboratory.  They  do  not  care  to  be 
taken  into  the  kitchen,  but  come  to  sit  down  to  its 
finished  product  in  the  dining-room.  While  a  pastor 
in  preaching  should  be  rigidly  true  to  sane  processes 
of  interpretation,  he  aims  to  comfort,  inspire,  and 
persuade  men  and  to  affect  their  lives.  The  exhibi¬ 
tion  of  critical  processes  in  the  pulpit  is  not  only  bad 
taste,  but  is  an  effort  to  feed  hungry  hearers  upon 
pots  and  pans  and  cook-stoves  instead  of  the  whole¬ 
some  and  appetizing  food  which  has  been  prepared 
in  them. 

24  John  16  :  12  ;  cf.  Mark  4  :  33. 


24 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


5  .Be  Constructive  in  Spirit  and  Purpose 

Above  all,  the  spirit  of  the  teacher  should  be  con¬ 
structive.  It  should  be  made  clear  that  his  purpose 
is  not  to  tear  down  old  notions.  He  can  well  afford 
to  be  gently  positive  and  let  everything  else  take 
care  of  itself.  All  labels  indicating  whether  things 
are  new  or  old  can  be  thrown  into  the  waste-basket. 
The  emblem  of  such  a  teacher  should  not  be  an  axe 
or  a  knife,  but  rather  a  trowel  or  the  tools  of  a  gar¬ 
den.  The  brown  leaves  of  last  summer  still  cling 
to  the  scrub  oak.  The  ice,  winds,  and  snow  of  the 
winter  have  not  torn  them  away.  There  is  a  tough¬ 
ness  in  their  clinging  which  is  unaffected  by  outside 
forces.  When  the  tilt  of  the  earth  brings  our  world 
into  a  new  relation  to  the  sun,  the  springtime  comes, 
and  the  new  life  awakens  the  tree  from  the  winter 
slumber,  the  sap  begins  to  flow,  and  the  old  leaves 
drop  off  through  the  power  of  the  new  life  within. 
Let  us  learn  the  parable  of  nature  if  we  would  lead 
our  followers  into  a  nobler  appreciation  of  the  truth 
and  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  the  great  book 
which  contains  the  highest  religious  experience  of 
the  race.  Let  us  so  constructively  present  reality 
that  it  shall  be  its  own  authority  and  claim  the 
hearts  of  those  whom  we  lead  with  its  inherent 
axiomatic  power. 


LECTURE  II 


REACTIONS  OF  HIS  MINISTRY  ON  HIS  LIFE 


Necessity  of  Proper  Qualifications 

It  has  been  said  that  the  pastor  must  be  qualified 
for  this  work  of  teaching.  His  educational  career 
at  college  and  at  the  theological  seminary  will  give 
him  a  good  start.  It  must  not  be  thought,  however, 
that  the  man  of  God  will  be  thoroughly  furnished 
unto  all  good  works,  especially  that  of  dividing  the 
word  of  truth  aright,1  simply  because  he  has  had 
such  educational  opportunities.  Indeed,  so  vast  is 
the  equipment  necessary  that  probably  no  one  has 
ever  been  thoroughly  qualified.  The  college  and 
seminary  prepare  us  only  to  start.  Real  preparation 
is  perennial  and  continuous.  The  pastor  must  be  at 
work  all  the  time  upon  the  great  book. 

In  addition  to,  and  equally  important  with,  the 
knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  will  be  the  forming  of 
contacts  with  the  people  who  are  to  be  led,  as  Jesus 
did  with  the  Samaritan  woman,  in  their  common 
desire  for  water;2  the  appreciation  of  the  sincerity 
of  men  and  women  and  their  praiseworthy  clinging 
to  truth  as  they  understand  it  though  they  be  either 
faulty  or  mistaken  in  their  ideas;3  the  tact  that 
would  introduce  new  conceptions  only  by  bringing 
others  face  to  face  with  facts  that  are  self-evident ; 4 

1  2  Tim.  2  :  15. 

2  John  4  :  7. 

3  Acts  18  :  26 ;  19  :  1-4. 

4  Acts  3  :  10 ;  4  :  14. 


25 


26 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


the  spirit  of  reverence  that  will  tolerate  nothing 
merely  destructive,  nor  speak  lightly  of  any  parts 
of  the  sacred  literature ;  and  the  one  purpose  to  dis¬ 
cover  the  truth  that  it  may  rule  over  all  lives.  There 
are  spiritual  qualifications  that  we  must  seek  to 
possess,  without  which  a  merely  intellectual  equip¬ 
ment  can  never  achieve  results.  The  Bible  can  be 
understood  and  taught  only  by  those  who  are  in 
sympathy  with  its  purposes.  No  mere  master  of 
acoustics  could  ever  be  fitted  to  teach  music  unless 
the  harmonies  were  also  in  his  soul.  This  constant 
effort  of  the  pastor  to  qualify  himself  for  this  im¬ 
portant  work  has  certain  reactions  upon  himself. 

I.  Reactions  on  Personal  Life 

Beneath  all  public  and  professional  ministries 
there  is  the  individual  life  that  is  the  secret  of  all 
we  can  accomplish.  What  we  are  is  the  secret  of 
all  we  can  say  or  do. 

1.  Compulsory  Systematic  Bible  Study 

The  need  of  being  qualified  compels  systematic 
Bible  study.  “  Thou  that  teachest  another,  dost  thou 
not  teach  thyself?”5  There  are  passages  in  the 
Bible  which  are  “  More  to  be  desired  than  fine  gold, 
yea,  than  much  fine  gold;  sweeter  also  than  honey 
and  the  honeycomb,”  6  upon  which  any  human  being, 
however  unskilled  in  Bible  study,  might  nourish  his 
soul.  It  is  true  that  these  may  be  possessed  and  the 
spiritual  ideal  they  contain  enthroned  over  our  lives. 
Nevertheless,  we  may  possess  all  of  these  and  be 
ignorant  of  the  Book  itself.  Yet  it  cannot  be  denied 

5  Rom.  2  :  21.  6  Ps.  19  :  10. 


Reactions  on  His  Life 


27 


that  spiritual  reality  which  is  the  instrument  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  regeneration  and  development  of 
our  lives,  can  best  be  discovered,  appreciated,  and 
enthroned  only  by  sane  methods  of  Bible  study. 
Too  often  the  minister  thinks  he  is  so  engrossed  with 
parish  details,  visitings,  chores,  and  public  functions 
that  he  cannot  give  himself  to  systematic  Bible 
study.  The  pastor  who  ceases  to  be  a  student  of  the 
Scriptures  when  he  enters  upon  his  ministry  and 
fails  to  develop  his  knowledge  of  the  Bible  is  des¬ 
tined  to  experience  an  atrophy  of  soul,  to  become 
a  mere  mechanic,  and  a  bungling  homiletic  artisan. 
He  must  keep  in  touch  with  the  sources  of  life,  main¬ 
tain  uninterrupted  connection  with  the  reservoir  if 
the  waters  are  to  flow  through  him  to  freshen  and 
invigorate  the  lives  of  others,  and  nourish  his  own 
soul  in  the  process  of  distribution.  The  minister 
may  piously  read  the  book  through  “  from  cover 
to  cover,”  may  know  its  language  and  its  contents, 
and  yet  be  densely  ignorant  of  its  message.  His 
daily  Bible  readings  may  merely  salve  his  conscience, 
or  appease  the  claims  of  ministerial  duty.  But 
his  use  of  the  Bible  is  to  be  far  different.  Only 
systematic  study  will  put  him  in  possession  of  the 
significance  of  a  book,  give  him  the  message  of  that 
book  to  the  day  and  generation  in  which  it  was 
written,  and  help  him  to  understand  the  view-point 
of  the  writer  or  speaker  whose  words  are  therein 
recorded.  Habits  of  study  are  essential.  The  min¬ 
ister  who  will  every  day  conscientiously  devote  a 
given  period  to  faithful,  honest  investigation  of  a 
book  of  the  Bible  will  find  himself  much  richer  at 
the  end  of  a  month  than  if  he  had  spent  the  same 
amount  of  time  in  so-called  devotional  reading,  or 


28 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


in  desultory  and  saltatory  uses  of  the  Scriptures. 
There  is  no  excuse  for  laziness  here,  nor  should  any 
one  be  satisfied  with  anything  less  than  the  very 
best  study  he  can  possibly  give. 

There  have  been  instances  where  congregations 
assembled  early  in  the  morning  for  the  purpose  of 
hearing  the  New  Testament  read  through  in  a  single 
day.  Different  readers  followed  one  another.  It 
would  be  unfair  to  say  that  no  advantage  resulted 
to  anybody  from  such  an  unusual  experience.  Never¬ 
theless,  it  can  hardly  be  questioned  that  if  the  day 
had  been  devoted  to  a  single  book  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  in  an  honest  effort  to  understand  the  life  out 
of  which  it  grew,  the  purpose  of  the  writer  in  pro¬ 
ducing  it,  and  the  message  it  bore  to  those  for  whom 
it  was  written,  the  results  of  the  day  would  have 
been  vastly  more  helpful. 

2.  Fellowship  in  Pursuit  of  Spiritual  Reality 

Systematic  study  will  bring  the  minister  into  close 
fellowship  with  others  who  are  seeking  to  compre¬ 
hend  with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth,  and  length, 
and  depth,  and  height,  and  to  know  the  love  of  God 
that  passes  knowledge.7  The  pursuit  of  knowledge 
is  a  social  matter.  No  one  saint  alone  could  com¬ 
prehend  the  love  that  passes  the  knowledge  of  any 
one  person.  Each  of  us  needs  to  have  the  light  that 
has  come  into  another's  soul.  Sometimes  this  cor¬ 
rects  our  own  views,  often  increases  our  perceptions, 
or  modifies  our  conclusions,  and  frequently  gives  us 
the  joy  of  confirmation  of  our  results.  In  any  event 
it  stimulates  any  one  who  is  engaged  in  this  system¬ 
atic  study  for  the  purpose  of  teaching.  In  all  de- 


7  Eph.  3  :  19. 


Reactions  on  His  Life 


29 


partments  of  knowledge  men  work  together.  They 
receive  one  another’s  results,  test  them,  verify  them, 
correct  them,  modify  them  in  various  ways.  To  be 
in  fellowship  with  those  who  have  such  high  purposes 
is  in  itself  a  holy  privilege.  How  can  one  forego 
membership  in  such  a  consecrated  fraternity?  Com¬ 
munion  of  saints  in  pursuit  of  knowledge  is  blessed. 

The  uplift  that  comes  to  the  pastor’s  life  in  being 
related  to  others  in  this  quest  for  light  cannot  be 
surpassed  except  by  the  joy  that  the  possession  of 
the  light  brings.  To  have  one’s  ignorance  enlight¬ 
ened,  to  see  one’s  mistakes  corrected,  and  his  partial 
visions  amplified,  to  become  enriched  through  the 
honest  workings  of  another’s  brain  and  heart — these 
are  gains  to  ourselves  that  are  beyond  estimate. 
The  dogmatic  spirit  is  exorcised  by  such  union  in 
efforts.  No  one  can  live  unto  himself  in  any  realm 
of  life.8  Isolation  is  fatal  to  expansion.  The  teach¬ 
ing  pastor  is  forced  out  of  all  insularity.  He  must 
join  with  others  in  the  common  pursuit  of  spiritual 
reality  as  recorded  in  the  Bible.  It  is  true  that  many 
lives  were  necessary  to  produce  that  priceless  litera¬ 
ture.  It  is  equally  true  that  many  lives  are  needed 
to  interpret  it.  Why  travel  this  path  like  a  lonely 
tramp  when  a  great  company  awaits  our  fellowship 
in  the  journey? 

3.  Wide  Culture  as  a  By-product  of  Teaching 

The  cultural  value  of  this  preparation  for  teach¬ 
ing  is  beyond  all  power  to  describe.  The  historical 
method  of  Bible  study  compels  each  student  to  know 
the  situation  out  of  which  each  book  of  the  Bible 
came  and  the  purposes  of  the  writer  to  influence 


8  Rom.  14  :  7. 


30 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


those  for  whom  his  book  was  written.  One  must 
become  acquainted  with  literary  methods  current  at 
the  time  the  book  was  produced,  make  to  live  again 
the  historical  conditions  that  existed,  become  ac¬ 
quainted  with  geography,  archeology,  customs,  great 
world  movements,  relations  personal  and  inter¬ 
national,  and  abandon  for  the  time  being  his  citizen¬ 
ship  in  the  present  to  live  again  with  those  who 
wrote  the  Scriptures.  How  is  it  possible  for  any 
one  to  understand  the  Old  Testament  prophets  un¬ 
less  their  books  are  read  in  the  light  of  the  crises 
that  produced  them,  of  the  hunger  for  world-wide 
empire  on  the  part  of  Assyria,  Egypt,  Babylonia,  the 
Hittites,  of  the  geographical  location  of  Palestine 
as  a  thoroughfare  over  which  these  contending  coun¬ 
tries  had  to  go  in  order  to  get  at  one  another  ?  The 
fact  is  that  these  great  world  powers  are  mentioned 
at  all  in  the  Old  Testament,  which  deals  specifically 
with  the  development  of  the  religion  of  Jehovah 
among  the  Hebrew  peoples,  only  because  the 
prophets  were  interpreters  of  universal  history  and 
saw  in  world  movements  indications  of  the  purposes 
and  the  spirit  of  the  God  of  all  the  earth.  They 
were  students  of  international  politics.  Assyria  was 
JehovalTs  rod9  and  his  razor.10  Cyrus  was  Jehovah's 
Messiah.11  Isaiah  gave  us  a  philosophy  of  history 
at  the  time  when  Rome  was  founded.  These  and 
numberless  other  things  indicate  how  lean  and 
meager  are  interpretations  of  the  Old  Testament 
prophets  which  ignore  the  great  cosmic  currents. 
How  could  any  one  hope  to  understand  the  tortuous 
development  of  the  idea  of  Messianism  unless  he  was 

9  Isa.  10  :  24. 

10  Isa.  7  :  20. 

11  Isa.  45  :  1. 


Reactions  on  His  Life 


31 


acquainted  with  the  religious  conceptions  of  the 
people  who  touched  Israel  in  its  national  develop¬ 
ment?  The  same  questions  might  be  asked  about 
every  other  part  of  the  literature  of  the  Old  Testa¬ 
ment.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  to  have  merely  a  good 
English  translation.  We  must  know  thousands  of 
things  that  are  not  expressly  stated  in  the  litera¬ 
ture  in  order  that  we  may  understand  the  literature 
itself. 

Precisely  the  same  is  true  of  our  New  Testament, 
although  the  life  that  it  records  is  centuries  nearer 
to  our  own  than  the  life  out  of  which  the  Old  Testa¬ 
ment  grew.  How  much  light  is  thrown  upon  the 
early  Christian  literature  by  recognizing  the  pre¬ 
literary  period  of  the  early  church,  and  realizing 
the  epistolary  period  as  revealed  in  the  Pauline  cor¬ 
respondence,  and  that  all  the  letters  of  the  great 
apostle  were  written  before  our  earliest  existing 
Gospel  was  produced!  When  one  goes  further  and 
asks  why  this  was  the  case  with  this  priceless  litera¬ 
ture,  and  discovers  the  causes  that  really  produced 
this  situation,  the  information  gained  puts  a  wholly 
new  conception  upon  the  New  Testament.  In  other 
words,  the  minister  who  would  qualify  himself  for 
the  service  herein  described  necessarily  is  led  into 
large  regions  of  knowledge,  the  mere  acquaintance 
with  which  is  denied  to  those  who  are  indifferent  to 
thorough  preparation  for  Bible  teaching.  The  cul¬ 
tural  value  of  such  study  cannot  be  exaggerated.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  countless  books  have 
been  produced  to  help  us  know  and  appreciate  the 
messages  of  the  Biblical  books  dealing  with  these 
unmentioned  but  luminous  conditions  which  alone 
can  make  clear  the  sacred  pages. 


32 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


4.  Ethical  Enthusiasm  Pervading  All  Processes 

There  is  an  ethical  reaction  also  that  occurs  in 
the  life  of  the  pastor  who  prepares  himself  for  this 
teaching  ministry.  His  passionate  devotion  to  real¬ 
ity  will  force  him  without  reserve  to  ascertain  what 
the  facts  are.  He  will  not  be  content  with  anything 
else  than  exactness  and  thoroughness.  In  other 
words,  all  that  is  implied  in  honest  study  will  rush 
back  in  upon  his  total  character.  He  will  find  in¬ 
tegrity  in  mental  work  breaking  through  mere  in¬ 
tellectual  bounds  and  seizing  upon  and  dominating 
his  love,  his  plans,  and  his  relations.  He  will  soon 
come  to  believe  that  only  reality  can  satisfy  any¬ 
where.  No  pains  will  be  too  severe  for  him  to 
discover  truth.  He  will  be  willing  to  sweat  his 
brains.  He  will  be  courageous  enough  to  admit  that 
he  does  not  know.  He  will  never  be  content  with 
make-believe  or  with  sham  anywhere.  He  will  soon 
come  to  see  that  only  the  truth  can  make  us  free.12 
Only  reality  emancipates.  All  else  enslaves.  With 
processes  of  study  so  thoroughly  ethical,  his  entire 
nature  soon  comes  to  yield  to  the  ethical  ideal  as 
sovereign.  He  will  not  take  advantage  of  the 
ignorance  of  those  with  whom  he  deals  to  employ 
unreal  methods  or  to  state  half-truths  simply  be¬ 
cause  he  may  get  some  response  from  those  whose 
lives  he  touches.  He  will  scorn  as  unworthy  of  the 
God  of  reality  or  of  the  Christ  who  said,13  “  I  am 
the  truth,”  anything  else  or  less  than  exactness  of 
statement,  and  to  the  best  of  his  ability  will  use 
only  that  which  has  verified  itself  to  his  sincere 
studies  as  being  the  fact.  The  only  way  to  escape 

12  John  8  :  32.  18  John  14  :  6. 


Reactions  on  His  Life 


33 


bondage  from  error,  ignorance,  and  superstition  is 
through  surrender  to  reality.  If  God  be  the  great 
Reality,  he  can  build  no  kingdom  anywhere  upon  the 
foundation  of  ignorance  or  of  error  or  of  super¬ 
stition.  Still  less  than  any  other  realm  can  he  found 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  upon  any  other  basis  than 
reality. 

Is  it  not  well  worth  while  to  pursue  a  discipline 
that  shall  thus  react  upon  one’s  total  character  ?  One 
of  the  highest  fruits  of  this  preparation  for  teach¬ 
ing  others  will  be  such  ethical  fiber  in  all  the  minis¬ 
ter’s  life.  All  prophets  of  God  need  it.  “  Will  ye, 
for  God,  speak  that  which  is  wrong,  and  for  him 
will  ye  utter  deceit?”  said  Job.14  “Let  me  alone; 
and  speak  will  I,  let  come  upon  me  what  will. 
Wherefore  do  I  take  my  flesh  in  my  teeth,  and  put 
my  life  in  my  hand?  Behold — He  may  slay  me;  I 
may  not  hope;  but  my  ways  will  I  maintain,  to  His 
face.  Nay,  that  shall  be  to  me  also  for  salvation, 
for  no  false  one  shall  come  into  His  presence.”  15 
Such  will  be  the  stern  adherence  to  facts  by  one 
whose  whole  being  is  steeped  in  the  ethical  baptism 
of  reality.  The  real  God  will  tolerate  no  sham.  No¬ 
where  do  we  so  learn  that  truth  as  in  Biblical  study. 
And  begirt  with  its  strength  the  pastor  will  in  all 
the  recesses  of  his  being  and  in  all  leadership  of  his 
people  be  courageous  enough  to  scorn  all  temptation 
to  compromise  with  unreality  anywhere.  Is  it  too 
much  to  claim  that  our  Lord  himself  in  the  expe¬ 
riences  of  his  temptation  won  his  battles  because 
his  soul  was  armored  in  impregnable  ethical  equip¬ 
ment  partly  at  least  acquired  from  his  study  of  his 

14  Job  13  :  T. 

11  Jo*  13  :  13-15,  Genung's  translation  in  the  “  Epic  of  the  Inner 
Lite.” 


34 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


Bible?  He  met  all  assaults  by  spiritual  and  ethical 
repulses  expressed  in  Old  Testament  language.16 

5.  Devotional  Appreciation  of  Sacred  Literature 

The  devotional  value  of  such  study  to  the  pastor’s 
life  is  inconceivable.  Preachers’  souls  need  precisely 
the  same  nourishment  which  they  wish  to  bring  to 
others.  Nevertheless,  we  cannot  feed  ourselves  upon 
husks.  No  mere  words  nor  any  torture  of  them  in 
the  hope  of  squeezing  out  spiritual  significance  can 
nourish  our  spirits.  If  we  live  again  with  those  who 
lived  in  Biblical  times,  feel  their  hopes  and  fears, 
experience  their  trials  and  comforts,  our  own  hearts 
will  glow  with  the  same  fires  that  warmed  the  spirits 
of  those  who  broke  out  into  hymns  of  praise  or 
prayers,  because  the  same  humanity,  the  same  trials, 
and  the  same  God  belong  to  us  alike.  We  shall  find 
the  same  courage  for  troubles  and  dark  days  and 
hardships.  There  will  be  no  part  of  the  Bible  grow¬ 
ing  out  of  human  experience  that  will  not  yield 
to  us  its  precious  strength  for  our  personal  lives. 
We  shall  suffer  with  those  who  suffered,  rejoice  with 
those  whose  thanksgivings  burst  forth  with  such 
music  and  power.  We  shall  sit  with  them  in  their 
darkness,  and  be  illuminated  with  the  light  that 
shone  upon  their  careers.  This  is  the  true  devo¬ 
tional  experience.  It  is  something  that  is  vital  and 
that  does  not  depend  upon  a  misuse  of  a  single 
word  in  all  the  Bible.  We  enter  into  life.  We  see 
that  all  expressions  of  it  recorded  in  this  literature 
are  windows  through  which  we  can  peer  into  the 
sacred  experiences  of  the  lives  of  men  and  women, 

16  Matt.  4  :  4  :  of.  Dent.  8:3;  Matt.  4  :  7  ;  cf.  Deut.  6:16;  Matt. 
4  :  10  ;  cf.  Deut.  6  :  13  ;  10  :  20. 


Reactions  on  His  Life 


35 


and  doorways  through  which  we  can  enter  into  their 
deepest  secrets.  The  soul  of  the  Bible  will  enter  into 
our  own  souls,  and  we  shall  have  the  holy  communion 
of  spirits  which  will  bring  us  afresh  the  feeling  that 
God  is  in  all  life  and  that  every  place  is  a  sanctuary. 
Surely  a  study  that  will  yield  such  experiences  is 
far  more  truly  devotional  than  any  mere  senti¬ 
mentalism  that  may  rest  upon  an  untrue  use  of  any 
word  even  though  it  be  in  the  Bible. 

The  truest  devotional  use  of  the  Bible  is  in  such 
study.  The  fact  of  the  unity  of  the  soul  makes  it 
impossible  for  us  to  share  the  companionship  of  any 
Biblical  character  or  writer  without  participating 
in  his  emotions  as  well  as  his  thoughts.  Only  as  we 
project  ourselves  back  into  the  history  of  those  who 
found  in  God  their  hopes  and  deliverances  will  our 
own  hopes  and  faith  become  strong  to  meet  our  ex¬ 
periences.  Detached  maxims  and  mottoes,  mere 
quotations  from  the  literature  wholly  apart  from 
the  circumstances  that  begot  them,  have  no  real 
virility.  We  may  try  to  warm  these  isolated  sen¬ 
tences  by  imagination,  and  make  them  take  the  chill 
from  our  cold  souls,  but  the  caloric  that  emanates 
from  our  own  fancies  is  only  a  delusive  substitute 
for  the  fire  that  other  lives  have  kindled  in  their 
rough  friction  with  fears,  distresses,  and  perplexi¬ 
ties.  Into  these  flames  we  can  throw  ourselves  with 
our  own  peculiar  and  personal  needs,  and  become 
fresh  fuel  for  the  proven  heat.  Only  in  this  vital 
method  of  sharing  the  lives  of  others  can  we  truly 
use  their  words  of  sorrow  and  joy.  Lives  must  be¬ 
come  one  before  language  is  identical.  The  real 
devotional  value  of  sane  Bible  study  far  exceeds  any 
other  conceivable  devotional  uses  of  the  Scriptures. 


36 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


II.  Effects  Upon  His  Public  Ministry 

The  effect  upon  the  public  ministry  of  the  teacher 
will  likewise  be  most  valuable.  Our  personal  ex¬ 
periences  will  be  reflected  in  our  public  life.  We  are 
the  mediators  of  divine  life  to  the  souls  of  others. 
Behind  the  public  ministry  is  the  man.  In  person¬ 
ality,  private  habits,  the  effects  of  this  preparation 
for  our  teaching  ministry  will  reveal  themselves. 
They  cannot  be  concealed.  A  life  that  has  dedi¬ 
cated  itself  as  has  just  been  outlined  can  have  no 
official  or  professional  aspects.  It  will  be  genuinely 
personal,  the  gift  of  one’s  self.  It  cannot  be  conven¬ 
tionally  ministerial.  Jesus  was  what  he  taught.  All 
his  words,  deeds,  and  attitudes  were  only  normal 
revelations  of  himself.  He  was  not  one  being  in  the 
interior  of  his  soul,  and  another  before  the  world. 
In  him  there  was  no  professionalism.  The  Teacher 
expressed  himself,  spoke  what  he  knew.17  His  words 
were  spirit  and  life.18  He  unfolded  himself  and 
asked  others  to  be  like  himself.  That  is  the  highest 
preaching.  Alas,  that  we  dare  not  do  the  same. 
Yet  that  is  to  be  our  ideal. 

1.  Uses  of  Scriptures  in  the  Pulpit 

The  noblest  public  ministry  is  simply  the  expres¬ 
sion  of  our  best  personal  lives.  What  then  does  this 
mean  for  our  uses  of  the  Bible  in  public  ? 

We  shall  let  our  sane  study  of  the  Bible  determine 
our  uses  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  pulpit.  No  longer 
will  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  public  worship 
be  simply  an  item  in  so-called  “  preliminary  exer- 

17  John  3  :  11. 

18  John  0  :  G3. 


Reactions  on  Ills  Life 


37 


cises,”  or  a  part  of  “  introductory  services,”  as  if 
the  sermon  were  the  center  of  our  interest  in  the 
house  of  God.  We  speak  to  God  in  our  prayers.  He 
speaks  to  us  in  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures.  The 
reading  of  the  Scriptures  will  be  far  more  than  a 
traditional  feature  in  a  public  service.  We  shall 
carefully  select  it.  We  shall  read  it  with  a  con¬ 
sciousness  that  in  it  there  is  a  message  for  ourselves 
and  for  others.  We  shall  be  like  Ezra  at  the  water 
gate  who  “  read  in  the  book  in  the  law  of  God  dis¬ 
tinctly,  and  gave  the  sense,  and  caused  them  to 
understand  the  reading.”  19  There  can  be  nothing 
more  delightful  or  effective  than  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures  by  one  who  understands  the  significance 
of  the  particular  passage  he  is  bringing  to  the  people. 
What  could  better  help  to  prepare  hearts  to  receive 
a  genuine  message  from  God  through  the  preacher 
to  the  people  than  a  passage  of  Scripture  whose 
reading  is  also  its  interpretation.  No  pastor  whose 
deep  study  had  led  him  into  the  very  life  recorded 
or  expressed  in  a  Scripture  selection  could  be  care¬ 
less  in  choosing  the  section  to  be  read,  or  mechanical 
in  the  reading  of  it.  Imagine  if  you  can  the  feelings 
of  the  Teacher  when  he  unrolled  the  scroll  until  he 
came  to  Isaiah  61  :  1-3,  for  his  text  for  the  sermon 
in  the  synagogue  of  his  home  town.  Study  the 
meaning  of  that  Scripture  as  originally  uttered. 
Ponder  the  familiarity  of  our  Lord  with  the  Old 
Testament  as  revealed  in  his  choice  of  those  partic¬ 
ular  words.  With  what  interpretative  power  he 
read  it,  because  he  saw  its  ideals  completely  realized 
in  his  conception  of  his  mission.20  Should  not  all 
pastors  try  to  make  their  pulpit  use  of  the  Scrip- 

19  Neh.  8:8.  20  Luke  4  . 


38 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


tures  as  effective  as  our  Lord  made  this  section  in 
his  reading  at  Nazareth,  so  far  as  is  possible?  Only 
the  studious  pastor  who  knows  his  Scripture  will 
be  able  to  say,21  “  This  day  is  this  Scripture  fulfilled 
in  your  ears.” 

2.  Choice  and  Treatment  of  Texts  in  Sermons 

Such  a  ministry  will  govern  the  preacher  in  his 
use  of  texts  for  sermons.  Hardly  anything  could 
be  more  contemptible  than  a  misuse  of  passages  of 
Scripture  as  texts.  The  people  have  been  brought 
to  believe  that  the  Bible  is  “  the  word  of  God,”  as 
it  certainly  is  in  a  real  and  true  sense.  Could  any¬ 
thing  be  more  unbecoming  than  for  a  supposedly 
authoritative  teacher  of  the  Bible  to  misuse  the 
text  and  have  the  people  think  that  divine  authority 
is  behind  his  misused  text?  No  honest  man  would 
so  treat  a  letter  which  he  received  from  a  friend. 
One  of  the  canons  of  correspondence  is  that  the 
reader  shall  try  to  discover  precisely  what  was  in 
the  mind  of  the  writer.  Any  deviation  from  this 
canon  marks  the  reader  as  essentially  untrust¬ 
worthy,  as  really  dishonest.  In  a  great  picture  the 
idea  of  the  whole  pervades  every  line  of  the  perspec¬ 
tive,  every  particle  of  color,  every  movement  of  the 
artist's  brush.  Each  detail  gets  its  meaning  and 
significance  from  the  idea  that  the  entire  picture  is 
intended  to  give  to  the  beholder.  In  a  classical 
musical  composition  the  feeling  and  language  of  the 
entire  production  pervades  every  phrase,  every 
chord,  and  every  single  note.  Each  sound  both  alone 
and  in  its  grouping  is  intended  to  minister  to  the 
emotion  which  the  composition  is  intended  to  pro- 


21  Luke  4  :  21. 


Reactions  on  His  Life 


39 


duce  in  the  hearer.  It  is  precisely  so  with  the 
Scriptures.  All  sentences  in  a  Biblical  book  are  to 
be  pondered  in  the  light  of  the  purpose  of  the 
writer. 

Alas,  how  many  times  this  has  been  forgotten  or 
deliberately  ignored  by  preachers  who  are  not  stu¬ 
dents.  There  has  been  much  contemptible  motto- 
mongering.  Because  the  words  of  King  James’  ver¬ 
sion  seemed  to  lend  themselves  to  the  purposes  men 
had  in  mind  words  have  been  torn  out  of  their 
context,  sometimes  infelicitously  adapted,  occasion¬ 
ally  cruelly  mutilated,  often  grotesquely  “  spiri¬ 
tualized,”  and  have  been  made  texts  and  pretexts 
for  so-called  sermons.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  often 
the  Scriptures  have  been  used  only  as  a  collection 
of  proof-texts  for  dogmas,  or  of  mottoes  for  sermons. 

One  cannot  catalog  the  Scriptures  that  have  been 
so  misused.  “  The  king’s  business  required  haste  ” 
was  the  lie  of  an  outlaw,22  and  tells  us  of  the  un¬ 
true  statements  to  which  occasionally  a  good  man  in 
desperate  straits  feels  forced  to  resort.  It  is  in  no 
sense  a  divine  statement  that  God  is  in  a  hurry,  and 
that  we  who  attend  to  his  affairs  had  better  make 
haste.  When  Amos  said  23  that  he  saw  “  A  basket 
of  summer  fruit  ”  he  was  not  handing  out  a  figure 
for  twentieth-century  preachers  to  use  in  reciting 
summer  vacation  experiences,  but  was  describing 
a  rotten  condition  of  Israel’s  morals  that  called  for 
quick  judgment.  When  the  same  rugged  man  of 
the  wilderness  asked,24  “  Can  two  walk  together, 
except  they  be  agreed?  ”  he  was  not  framing  a  ques¬ 
tion  for  contentious  twentieth-century  dogmatists  to 
ask  in  the  mistaken  supposition  that  there  could  be 

22 1  Sam.  21  :  8.  23  Amos  8  :  1,  2.  24  Amos  3  :  3. 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


no  spiritual  fellowship  between  those  who  had  differ¬ 
ences  of  opinion,  nor  forging  a  doctrinal  compress 
to  bale  guesses  into  an  authoritative  creed.  How 
many  times  have  these  words  been  used  as  a  club 
to  scare  honest  persons  from  original  thinking!  He 
was  stating  in  a  beautiful  way  his  idea  of  the  law 
of  cause  and  effect.  In  a  pathless  wilderness  two 
could  not  meet  in  a  certain  spot  unless  there  had 
been  a  previous  agreement  or  a  trysting.  When 
Laban  said  to  Jacob,25  “  The  Lord  watch  between 
me  and  thee  when  we  are  absent  one  from  another,” 
he  was  not  preparing  thousands  of  years  before  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  was  organized  a  beauti¬ 
ful  Mizpah  benediction  which  was  intended  to  de¬ 
scribe  the  trust  that  we  should  have  in  one  another 
and  God’s  care  for  all  of  us.  Nor  was  he  coining  the 
word  “  Mizpah  ”  for  the  inside  of  engagement  rings. 
It  was  the  language  of  suspicion  and  not  of  con¬ 
fidence.  Two  unscrupulous  Semites  had  made  an 
agreement.  One  of  them  said,  “  Since  we  are  not 
to  be  together  to  keep  an  eye  on  each  other,  the 
Lord  keep  an  eye  on  both  of  us  to  see  that  we 
are  true  to  our  bargain.”  When  one  of  the  sages 
said,26  “  For  as  he  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he,” 
he  was  not  framing  a  psychological  truth  to  express 
the  idea  that  thoughts  really  are  the  indexes  of 
our  character.  He  was  describing  an  insincere  host 
whose  guest  was  told :  27  “  Eat  thou  not  the  bread 
of  him  that  hath  an  evil  eye,  neither  desire  thou  his 
dainties;  for  as  one  that  reckoneth  within  himself 
so  is  he.  Eat  and  drink,  he  saith  unto  thee;  but 
his  heart  is  not  with  thee.  The  morsel  which  thou 

-5  Gen.  31  :  40.  27  American  Revised  Version,  Margin. 

2fi  Prov.  23  :  7. 


Reactions  on  His  Life 

r 


41 


hast  eaten  shall  thou  vomit  up,  and  lose  thy  sweet 
words.”  When  discerning  and  intelligent  Bible 
students  or  sensible  persons  in  the  pew  hear  min¬ 
isters  misuse  texts  in  this  way,  they  are  disgusted 
and  lose  all  respect  for  a  teacher  who  will  so  per¬ 
vert  the  words  of  Holy  Writ.  Some  years  ago  I 
was  asked  by  a  very  distinguished  pulpit  orator  if 
I  knew  of  a  volume  which  classified  the  texts  of  the 
Bible  according  to  their  meaning.  The  question 
was  puzzling,  as  if  any  such  volume  was  at  all  possi¬ 
ble.  He  explained  that  he  supposed  there  must 
be  some  book  which  classified  the  different  sentences 
of  Scripture  according  to  the  subjects  with  which 
they  dealt.  He  was  reminded  that  modern  Biblical 
study  was  of  an  entirely  different  type,  that  we  try 
to  understand  the  books  as  books,  and  that  such  a 
volume  could  represent  only  the  opinions  of  the  per¬ 
son  who  produced  it  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  de¬ 
tached  Biblical  sentences.  I  told  him  that  when  I 
lived  in  New  York  I  had  such  a  volume,  but  when  I 
moved  to  St.  Louis  had  sold  it  as  junk  with  many 
hundreds  of  others  accumulated  in  the  times  of  my 
ignorance  at  which  God  forgivingly  winked.  He 
insisted  upon  knowing  the  name  of  it,  because  often 
when  he  had  finished  his  sermon  he  was  at  a  loss 
to  find  an  appropriate  text. 

What  could  be  more  beautiful  and  effective  than 
for  the  hearers  of  a  preacher  to  know  that  when¬ 
ever  their  minister  took  a  text  his  exhortations 
would  not  be  based  upon  the  mutilation  or  distortion 
of  sacred  words !  Is  it  not  astonishing  how  often  it 
is  seen  that  a  high  sense  of  verbal  inspiration  is  not 
incompatible  with  such  a  misuse  of  Scripture  as  we 
are  describing?  Even  in  the  pulpit  while  he  is 


42 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


preaching  the  pastor  does  not  cease  to  be  a  teacher 
of  the  Bible.  There  is  no  justification  for  making 
the  impression  upon  one’s  hearers  that  it  makes 
little  difference  what  a  Biblical  writer  meant,  so  long 
as  a  modern  preacher  can  use  the  words  of  an  En¬ 
glish  translation  as  a  motto.  Dr.  H.  G.  Weston  once 
told  his  class  about  an  institute  for  ministers  he 
had  just  held  in  a  certain  State,  and  summed  up  his 
work  in  his  homiletic  lectures  by  saying,  “  I  must 
have  killed  at  least  ten  thousand  old  sermons  based 
upon  misused  texts.” 

3.  The  Joy  and  Vitality  of  Preaching 

Such  study  and  dedication  to  the  work  of  teach¬ 
ing  provides  for  a  joy  in  preaching  unknown  to 
those  who  are  not  conscious  of  having  behind  their 
utterances  the  experiences  and  lives  whose  vital  ex¬ 
periences  are  recorded  in  the  Bible.  We  too  today 
can  teach  with  the  authority  of  “  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  ”  when  we  have  clearly  come  to  know  the  will 
of  God  and  his  thought.  There  is  such  a  thing  as 
subjective  homiletics.  The  sermon  is  vastly  more 
than  an  exercise  in  sacred  rhetoric.  Far  be  it  from 
our  purpose  to  depreciate  the  utmost  endeavor  on 
the  part  of  the  preacher  to  give  his  utterances 
the  best  possible  form.  The  best  we  can  do  would 
come  far  short  of  appropriate  tribute  to  any  truth 
we  are  trying  to  proclaim.  Nor  could  it  be  too 
good  for  those  who  listen  to  us.  While  in  every  way 
desirable,  form  is  not  essential.  The  majesty  of 
God’s  truth  and  the  needs  of  human  souls  are  so 
imperative  that  no  form  that  could  assist  the  sermon 
is  to  be  despised.  Nevertheless,  the  essential  thing 
is  that  the  soul  of  the  preacher  should  be  so  suffused, 


Reactions  on  His  Life 


43 


saturated,  penetrated  by  the  truth  that,  without 
despising  or  neglecting  the  best  possible  form,  the 
preacher  himself  should  feel  overwhelmingly  the 
power  of  the  truth  itself.  The  Old  Testament 
prophet  used  forms  not  only  for  help  in  conveying 
his  message,  and  as  devices  to  aid  the  memories  of 
his  hearers,  but  mostly  as  vehicles  for  his  richest 
power.  He  did  not  despise  contemporary  forms,  nor 
did  he  set  aside  any  method  that  would  fix  his  mes¬ 
sage  on  the  souls  of  people.  He  would  go  barefoot 
or  naked  through  the  streets  of  a  city.28  He  would 
snatch  off  his  girdle.29  He  would  defy  convention¬ 
ality.  Nevertheless,  one  reads  the  Old  Testament 
prophet  to  little  purpose  if  he  fails  to  see  behind 
all  his  literary  or  oratorical  or  sensational  devices 
the  flaming  fire  of  the  divine  message  in  the  soul 
of  the  preacher.  Is  not  this  what  is  needed  today, 
this  accent  of  life,  this  “  burden  ”  the  prophet  felt, 
this  “  fire  in  his  bones  ”  ? 30  How  else  can  one  so 
well  come  to  share  this  passion  with  prophet  and 
apostle  as  by  the  kind  of  study  we  have  insisted 
upon,  by  discovering  mighty  truth  and  human  need 
for  it?  Compelled  by  our  responsibility  as  teachers 
we  can  bathe  our  souls  in  precisely  the  same  foun¬ 
tains  of  reality.  Not  only  the  vision  of  the  truth 
itself,  but  the  call  of  circumstances  in  which  we  live 
for  the  truth  that  has  been  revealed  to  us,  will  set 
our  hearts  aflame.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  sub¬ 
jective  homiletics,  this  penetration  of  our  spirits 
by  the  spirit  of  reality.  If  as  teachers  we  would 
bring  people  to  share  the  enthusiasms  of  those  whose 

2S  Isa.  20  :  2,  3. 

29  Jer.  13  :  1-11. 

30  Jer.  20  :  9  ;  23  :  38  ;  Mai.  1:1;  Isa.  13  :  1 ;  14  :  28  ;  etc. 


44 


T1  ie  Teaching  Pastor 


utterances  make  our  Bible,  we  can  reach  that  ability 
through  no  other  process  than  living  again  with 
those  whose  words  send  forth  heat  and  light,  though 
their  voices  have  long  been  hushed  in  the  progress 
of  the  ages. 

Was  not  this  precisely  the  secret  of  the  glow  that 
characterized  the  preaching  of  the  New  Testament 
times?  Contact  with  life  made  the  preachers  vital 
and  courageous.  Our  Lord  chose  Twelve  to  “  be 
with  him,  and  that  he  might  send  them  forth  to 
preach.”  31  Contagion  from  the  Teacher  was  relied 
upon  to  produce  fervor  in  the  preacher.  Not  all  at 
once  did  this  effect  follow,  but  it  endlessly  increased. 
What  mighty  courage  filled  Stephen’s  soul  as  he  re¬ 
viewed  national  history,  and  felt  the  sin  of  the  per¬ 
sistent  refusal  to  cherish  the  spirit  of  receptivity 
until  it  reached  its  climax  in  the  rejection  of  Jesus.32 
“Ye  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost:  as  your 
fathers  did,  so  do  ye.”  The  same  glow  is  felt  when¬ 
ever  we  listen  to  Paul,  or  read  his  letters.  There 
is  a  spiritual  power,  a  bathing  of  words  in  his  very 
life’s  blood.  He  was  no  maker  of  essays,  no  rhetor¬ 
ical  mechanic  treating  subjects  in  a  dainty  way. 
He  brought  life  to  bear  upon  life.  Because  he  had 
not  only  yielded  himself  to  the  life  he  propagated, 
but  made  himself  one  with  the  life  he  would  in¬ 
fluence,  he  had  a  double  vitality.  Blessed  is  the 
studious  preacher  who  so  enriches  himself  by  mak¬ 
ing  his  own  the  lives  of  those  whose  religious  ex¬ 
periences  are  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  that  his 
own  soul  is  incandescent  with  the  same  illumination. 
Such  is  the  real  Scriptural  preaching.  It  is  not  the 

31  Mark  3  :  14. 

32  lets  7  :  51. 


Reactions  on  His  Life 


45 


phonographic  repetition  of  Biblical  language,  nor 
the  adherence  to  special  types  of  teaching  found  in 
the  Bible.  It  is  a  personality  gleaming  with  the 
very  same  light  and  virile  with  the  same  vitality 
that  filled  all  prophets  and  apostles  when  each  one 
witnessed  to  divine  reality  in  his  day  and  genera¬ 
tion.  And  this  joy  of  preaching  can  come  only  to 
those  who  have  studied  these  men  of  old  moved  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  have  come  to  open  their  lives 
to  the  same  Spirit. 

III.  Inevitable  Church  Educational  Atmosphere 

One  of  the  inevitable  results  of  emphasis  upon 
the  teaching  function  of  the  pastor  will  be  a  general 
church  atmosphere.  If  he  is  faithful  to  his  ideal 
in  the  treatment  of  the  Scriptures,  in  the  selection 
of  his  texts,  in  the  character  of  his  sermons,  and  in 
directing  the  affairs  of  his  church  school  and  young 
people’s  societies,  there  will  be  an  educational  atmos¬ 
phere  which  cannot  fail  to  be  noticed.  This  does 
not  mean  that  there  will  be  a  cold,  icy  intellectualism 
pervading  the  pulpit,  the  church  school,  and  the 
various  organizations  in  the  church.  Education  as 
used  throughout  these  lectures  means  the  unfolding? 
of  the  whole  human  personality,  its  thinking  power, 
its  spirit  of  love  and  service,  its  will  in  devotion  and 
persistence,  its  social  qualities,  its  moral  possibili¬ 
ties.  The  ideal  of  Christianity  is  not  suppression 
but  expression.  If  the  old  Greek  idea  of  self-realiza¬ 
tion  be  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ  it  will  express 
what  the  Master  came  to  achieve.  What  could  be 
more  beautiful  than  to  have  a  church  known  as 
striving  in  every  department  for  this  development 


46 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


of  personality  and  its  relations  ?  Is  not  this  the  very 
idea  of  salvation,  a  right  relation  to  God  and  to  our 
fellow  men  in  this  world,  Jesus  himself  being  the 
standard  of  these  relations?  Such  an  atmosphere 
is  the  native  air  in  which  a  Christian  church  should 
live.  Its  ideals  are  those  for  which  the  church 
exists.  If  the  preacher  is  devoted  to  a  ministry  like 
this  his  evangelism  will  rest  upon  an  appeal  to  the 
whole  personality.  All  pulpit  teaching  and  work  in 
the  church  school  will  be  influenced  by  this  concep¬ 
tion.  The  institution  will  stand  for  these  ideals, 
and  will  express  them  in  a  thousand  ways. 

When  Jesus  chose  the  Twelve,  he  had  in  mind 
at  least  three  things.  First,  he  became  their 
Teacher.  That  was  the  name  by  which  he  was 
known.  He  gave  them  truth  as  they  were  able  to 
bear.33  Secondly,  he  sent  them  out  to  give  expres¬ 
sion  to  the  truth  that  they  understood.  It  was  their 
practise  of  what  they  knew  that  most  concerned 
him.  And  thirdly,  and  most  of  all,  he  chose  them 
to  be  with  him.  They  really  learned  more  from 
contact  with  his  person  and  from  spiritual  reality 
incarnated  in  him  than  they  did  from  any  other 
source.  They  got  inspiration  from  that  blessed  asso¬ 
ciation.  Today  our  pedagogy  is  catching  up  with 
the  divine  Teacher.  We  are  beginning  to  see  that 
the  three  essential  things  are :  Adapted  instruction 
which  can  be  assimilated;  the  practise  of  what  has 
been  taken  into  our  lives;  and  the  method  of  con¬ 
tagion,  of  fellowship  for  stimulus,  courage,  and  per¬ 
severance.  Where  a  pastor  can  make  these  ideas 
dominant  in  the  life  of  his  church,  he  is  suc¬ 
ceeding. 

33  Mark  4  :  33  ;  John  16  :  12. 


Reactions  on  His  Life 


47 


After  all,  it  is  the  man  who  makes  the  minister. 
It  is  not  within  the  power  of  a  college  or  a  seminary 
to  make  him.  These  may  cultivate  qualities  of  man¬ 
hood  that  constitute  the  real  minister.  Words  cannot 
express  the  gratitude  that  the  world  should  feel  to 
institutions  of  learning  for  their  development  of  men 
who  seek  the  moral  uplift  of  humanity.  It  is  not  by 
laying  on  of  hands,  or  so-called  “  ordination,”  that 
ministers  are  made.  There  is  no  digital  grace  that 
can  be  conferred  by  one  person  upon  another.  Rites, 
ceremonies,  and  forms  are  the  language  of  the  soul, 
but  they  are  not  the  causes  of  the  vitalities  of  the 
spirit.  It  will  rest  with  every  man  who  aspires  to 
the  ministry  to  decide  whether  teaching  in  the  no¬ 
blest,  highest  sense  shall  be  his  function,  or  whether 
he  shall  spend  his  life  in  other  ways  that  in  the  end 
do  not  count  for  the  full,  rounded  unfolding  of 
human  life  that  can  be  secured  only  by  the  patient, 
consecrated  teaching  ministry  of  the  pastor.  Each 
of  us  has  only  himself  to  give  to  God  and  mankind. 
To  give  the  best  self  possible  is  privilege  as  well  as 
duty.  We  can  make  our  very  “  high  calling  ”  con¬ 
tribute  to  the  enlarging  and  enriching  of  ourselves. 
There  is  no  way  to  do  this  more  efficiently  than  in  the 
ministry  of  a  teaching  pastor. 


LECTURE  III 


HIS  ONENESS  WITH  THE  EDUCATED 

COMMUNITY 

The  Teacher  in  the  Early  Church  and  His  Successor 

In  the  early  church  there  arose  those  who  were 
called  teachers.  They  were  part  of  the  manifold 
ministry  and  apparently  devoted  themselves  exclu¬ 
sively  to  this  function.  They  had  the  literature  of 
the  Old  Testament  in  which  probably  only  the  Jewish 
Christians  were  specially  interested.  They  also  no 
doubt  had  early  written  Christian  documents  such 
as  narratives  concerning  the  life  and  teachings  of 
our  Lord,1  and  the  logia  of  Matthew  afterwards  used 
in  the  Gospel  that  bears  his  name,  and  the  written 
decision  of  the  Council  at  Jerusalem,2  and  the  grow¬ 
ing  Pauline  correspondence  with  the  churches.  It 
would  be  easy  for  our  imagination  to  picture  groups 
of  church-members  meeting  in  various  homes  3  and 
under  the  guidance  of  teachers  studying  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  rapidly  increasing  literature  of 
Christianity.  With  what  delight  a  new  letter  from 
Paul  or  any  other  apostle  would  be  hailed!  And 
when  our  Gospels  appeared,  what  treasures  they 
were  to  those  early  teachers  and  students!  How 
churches  would  secure  copies  of  the  precious  docu¬ 
ments  and  meet  with  enthusiasm  to  study  them 
under  the  leadership  of  the  teachers!  And  when 
eye-witnesses  of  Jesus’  life  had  passed  away,  and 

1  Luke  1  :  1,  2.  2  Acts  15  :  23-29.  3  Col.  4  :  15  et  als. 

48 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  49 


those  who  like  Polycarp  had  known  an  apostle  had 
died,  with  what  love  the  literary  remains  of  the  early 
church  were  cherished!  Is  it  too  much  to  assume 
that  it  was  the  teacher  who  deserves  the  credit  for 
preserving  and  multiplying  these  pamphlets  that 
were  afterwards  collected  into  our  New  Testament? 
They  deserved  the  support  that  Paul  urged  should 
be  given  to  them.4  Their  function  was  differentiated 
from  that  of  the  missionaries,  and  pastors  and 
preachers.5  They  are  also  spoken  of  as  among  the 
“  ascension  gifts.”  6 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  describe  minutely  the 
particular  service  they  rendered  when  there  was  but 
one  church  in  a  city  and  before  Christians  had 
grouped  themselves  into  separate  congregations 
independent  of  one  another. 

1.  The  early  church  considered  religious  instruction  one 
of  the  two  essential  features  of  its  mission. 

2.  It  is  believed  that  in  his  parting  instruction  to  his  dis¬ 
ciples  Jesus  had  specifically  charged  them  with  this  work. 

3.  In  providing  for  the  successful  prosecution  of  this  task 
the  church  very  soon  produced  a  distinct  class  known  as 
teachers,  who  were  particularly  responsible  for  the  edu¬ 
cational  work  of  the  church. 

4.  These  teachers  were  given  a  definite  standing  in  the 
ministry  and  were  found  throughout  practically  the  whole 
church. 

5.  It  was  understood  that  this  teaching  ministry  had  been 
originated  and  appointed  by  the  special  activity  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

6.  The  teachers  devoted  themselves  so  exclusively  to  the 
work  of  instruction  that  they  had  to  be  supported  at  least 
in  part  by  those  among  whom  they  labored  and  who  received 
the  benefit  of  their  teaching.7 

*  Gal.  6:6.  51  Cor.  12  :  28.  6  Eph.  4  :  11. 

7  Rev.  J.  W.  Bailey,  Ph.  D.,  in  the  “  Biblical  World,”  Vol.  XXXVIII, 
p.  58.  The  entire  article  on  “  The  Teacher  in  the  Early  Church  ”  is 
illuminating. 


50 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


No  seminary  today  emphasizes  the  preparation  of 
fit  men  for  this  place  in  the  life  of  the  local  church. 
Short-cut  theological  institutions  are  not  at  all  con¬ 
cerned  with  this  ministry.  The  products  of  such 
schools  could  hardly  work  efficiently  in  this  service. 
We  are  making  preachers,  are  concerned  about 
administrators  of  church  affairs,  are  emphasizing 
the  sermon  and  pastoral  service,  but  have  hardly 
begun  to  appreciate  the  enormous  value  of  the  teach¬ 
ing  function.  True  it  is  that  there  has  been  a  great 
awakening  in  the  sense  of  our  duty  to  care  for  the 
young  in  genuine  religious  education,  but  there  is 
hardly  the  same  desire  to  produce  men  whose  min¬ 
istry  is  conspicuous  for  its  teaching  efficiency. 

What  has  become  of  these  teachers  in  the  early 
church?  They  survive  partly  today  in  the  faculties 
of  our  schools,  but  so  far  as  the  local  church  is  con¬ 
cerned,  only  in  the  voluntary  and  for  the  most  part 
untrained  teachers  in  our  church  schools.  A  few 
churches  who  are  financially  able  to  do  so  have  what 
are  now  called  “  Directors  of  Religious  Education.” 
These  concern  themselves  with  the  management  of 
the  church  school  and  young  people’s  organizations 
and  in  training  teachers.  They  are  so  few  in  num¬ 
ber  that  there  are  scarcely  enough  to  make  even  a 
small  showing  in  any  denominational  statistical 
table.  Probably  the  function  which  they  seek  to 
discharge  would  come  closer  to  that  of  the  “  teacher  ” 
described  in  the  New  Testament  than  any  other 
existing.  This  ministry  of  teaching  was  contem¬ 
plated  by  our  Lord  in  “  the  great  commission  ”  when 
he  called  upon  the  Twelve  to  go  out  and  to  preach 
and  teach.8  He  himself  was  called  “Teacher” 


3  Matt.  28  :  19. 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  51 


oftener  than  by  any  other  designation,  and  his  fol¬ 
lowers  were  called  “  disciples,”  or  learners. 

There  is  no  need  for  us  to  discount  the  work  of 
the  minister  as  preacher  or  pastor.  These  are 
necessary.  Yet  in  the  discharge  of  these  functions 
we  must  not  forget  that  the  educational  work  of  the 
pastor  in  the  true  sense  is  evangelistic  in  the  highest 
meaning  of  the  term.  If  it  be  objected  that  a  teach¬ 
ing  ministry  adds  to  the  load  of  an  already  over¬ 
burdened  man,  we  can  only  reply  that  under  present 
conditions  this  is  inevitable.  Since  churches  are  not 
financially  able  to  have  a  specialized  ministry  and 
one  man  must  do  all  the  work,  he  must  as  well  as 
possible  seek  to  realize  his  manifold  service. 

I.  Present  Functions  of  the  Teaching  Pastor 

1.  Uplifting  the  Uneducated 

With  this  in  mind,  what  position  will  the  teach¬ 
ing  pastor  have  among  the  educated  persons  in  his 
community?  He  should  not  break  with  any  class. 
His  calling  demands  that  he  shall  identify  himself 
with  all  men.9  If  he  thinks  of  his  relation  to  those 
who  have  not  had  educational  advantages,  he  will 
see  that  it  is  all  the  more  necessary  that  one  who  has 
possessed  them  shall  join  himself  hard  to  those  who 
especially  need  the  development  that  can  come  only 
through  his  teaching  ministry.  He  is  to  help  these, 
however,  not  by  sacrificing  his  own  high  position, 
but  by  lifting  up  others  to  share  with  him  the  great 
things  that  God  has  given  him.  He  cannot  afford 
to  break  with  the  educated  element  in  any  com¬ 
munity.  These  are  the  persons  who  really  control 

3 1  Cor.  8  :  19-23. 


52 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


public  sentiment.  They  are  the  men  and  women  who 
have  had  educational  advantages,  who  are  teaching 
in  the  public  schools  and  in  higher  institutions  of 
learning.  This  body  of  persons  is  so  numerous,  and 
their  influence  so  tremendous  that  no  minister  can 
afford  to  sacrifice  his  relations  with  them  for  the 
sake  of  becoming  one  with  those  who  have  not  had 
such  advantages.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  do  so.  The 
vision  of  our  Lord  begirt  with  his  towel  and  with 
the  basin  in  his  hand  washing  the  feet  of  the  Twelve 
in  the  upper  room  10  illustrates  the  truth  that  the 
loftiest  consciousness  begets  the  lowliest  acts.  The 
mark  of  real  men  and  women  is  that  they  are  able 
to  adjust  themselves  to  those  whose  advantages  have 
been  less  than  their  own,  and  to  do  this  in  such  a 
way  as  not  to  produce  the  impression  that  they  are 
condescending. 

2.  Identification  With  the  Educated 

The  teaching  pastor  automatically  identifies  him¬ 
self  with  the  intelligent  element  in  the  community. 
If  he  be  such  a  one  as  is  described  in  the  previous 
lecture,  this  oneness  will  be  apparent.  Teachers  will 
soon  recognize  the  sameness  between  his  view-points 
and  theirs.  Identity  of  methods  will  quickly  be  dis¬ 
covered.  Teachers  of  literature  will  recognize  that 
the  teaching  pastor  is  pursuing  precisely  the  same 
historical  methods  in  the  study  and  teaching  of  the 
Bible  that  they  follow  in  their  classrooms.  If  a 
pastor  appears  only  as  an  exhorter,  or  a  functionary 
whose  business  it  is  to  hold  meetings,  officiate  at 
funerals  and  marriages,  be  a  propagandist  of  dog¬ 
mas  and  purveyor  of  pious  entertainment,  and  a 


10  John  13  :  1-5. 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  53 


kind  of  ecclesiastical  decoration  of  public  assemblies 
for  making  opening  and  closing  prayers,  whose  mis¬ 
sion  it  is  to  utter  formalities  miscalled  invocations, 
and  dismissions  which  are  misnamed  benedictions, 
it  is  hard  to  see  how  he  can  make  his  office  an  appeal 
to  those  whose  lives  are  given  to  earnest  study  and 
honest  effort  to  unfold  all  the  capacities  of  human 
beings. 

The  minister  can  compel  recognition  by  teachers 
only  in  so  far  as  his  own  life  and  work  identify 
him  with  the  teaching  fraternity.  His  very  ministry 
should  unite  him  completely  with  those  who  like 
himself  are  striving  to  develop  and  enlarge  human 
personalities,  to  widen  horizons,  to  help  life  breathe 
the  world  atmosphere,  and  to  train  human  beings  for 
the  best  possible  living.  It  does  not  work  against  his 
recognition  by  the  teaching  fraternity  that  the  min¬ 
ister  is  supremely  concerned  with  moral  and  re¬ 
ligious  reality  while  other  members  of  the  teaching 
fraternity  are  busy  with  the  intellectual  or  esthetic 
or  physical  or  social  development  of  the  individual. 
The  teaching  preacher  can  easily  profit  by  all  that 
other  teachers  are  doing,  can  reveal  to  the  public 
that  he  is  in  the  widest,  truest  sense  an  educator, 
and  thus  rank  with  the  intellectual  and  the  educa¬ 
tional  forces  of  the  community.  Where  else  should 
he  find  his  rank?  Should  it  not  be  normally  the  case 
that  the  students  of  a  public  school  or  college  could 
listen  to  the  sermons  of  a  minister,  or  attend  his 
lectures,  or  participate  in  the  church  school  that  he 
directs,  and  at  once  feel  at  home  in  finding  that  the 
methods  of  study  pursued  in  the  church  are  the  same 
as  thost,  to  which  these  students  are  accustomed  in 
their  studies  in  other  literature?  Is  it  asking  too 


54 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


much  that  teachers  and  professors  in  State  institu¬ 
tions  of  all  grades  and  in  all  our  colleges  should 
recognize  in  the  interpretations  of  the  Scriptures  by 
the  preacher,  and  in  the  instruction  given  in  church- 
school  classes  identically  the  same  scientific  and 
ethically  honest  processes  they  are  compelled  to  use 
in  their  own  classrooms? 

But,  it  may  be  objected,  the  Bible  is  different  from 
English  classics,  or  those  of  another  tongue. 
Granted!  Yet  that  difference  is  appreciated  all  the 
more  when  the  same  historical  methods  used  in 
studying  Shakespeare  are  used  in  Biblical  study. 
Uniqueness  can  be  discovered  only  in  the  effort  to 
classify.  There  is  no  other  way  to  recognize  it. 
There  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  faith,  not  to 
say  credulity,  that  rests  in  the  Bible  as  unique  be¬ 
cause  some  one  else,  or  a  creed,  or  an  ecclesiastical 
authority  has  told  us  so,  and  the  deep  conviction 
borne  in  upon  our  souls  because  of  the  sane  study 
of  the  book  itself.  Such  study  and  teaching  by  the 
pastor  and  his  people  will  cause  that  “  faith  should 
not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of 
God.”  11  Indeed,  not  the  least  of  the  causes  for  the 
indifference  of  the  teaching  profession  to  the  mar¬ 
velous  literature  we  call  the  Bible  has  been  that 
the  assumptions,  presumptions,  and  initial  demands 
of  its  friends  upon  the  scholarly  classes  have  so 
offended  their  sanity  that  they  have  been  repelled 
from  genuine  study  of  it.  Allegorizing,  fancifuliz- 
ing,  sheer  assumption  of  double  meaning  as  if  an 
honest  writer  could  use  words  in  a  double  sense,  as 
if  religious  teaching  eschewed  transparency  and  fell 
from  grace  into  occult  and  cryptic  expression,  have 

11  1  Cor.  2  :  5. 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  55 


alienated  thousands  who  did  not  and  could  not  be¬ 
lieve  that  God  had  given  them  common  sense  and 
culture  of  brains  only  to  insult  them  in  the  name  of 
the  Giver.  Yes,  the  Bible  is  different  from  other 
literature,  but  no  one  knows  that  difference  so  well, 
or  appreciates  it  so  thoroughly  as  the  student  who 
summons  the  whole  of  his  sanity  to  understand  the 
Scriptures.  The  teaching  pastor  is  the  only  minister 
who  can  reach  the  teaching  profession  today,  who 
can  interest  the  annually  growing  product  of  our 
schools  of  all  grades. 

3.  Competent  Interpretation  of  the  Bible 

The  teaching  pastor  will  inevitably  reach  a  posi¬ 
tion  of  authority  so  far  as  the  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures  is  concerned.  No  one  today  can  be 
authority  upon  every  matter.  Those  who  serve  the 
world  are  divided  into  specialists.  The  very  de¬ 
velopment  of  life  compels  this.  In  medical  realms, 
after  years  of  training,  specialists  are  expected  to  be 
able  to  give  information  concerning  the  human  body, 
its  normal  activities,  and  the  abnormalities  that  we 
call  diseases.  After  long  and  severe  discipline  law¬ 
yers  are  supposed  to  know  the  principles  of  law, 
to  be  able  to  state  great  ideals  which  have  been  em¬ 
bodied  in  the  development  of  justice.  In  other 
words,  what  a  patient  rightly  expects  from  a  phy¬ 
sician  with  regard  to  his  body,  and  a  client  reason¬ 
ably  expects  from  his  lawyer  with  reference  to 
business,  the  man  at  large  should  expect  from  the 
minister  with  regard  to  the  teaching  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  and  the  ideals  and  processes  of  the  moral  and 
religious  life.  His  rank  in  his  sphere  should  not  be 
less  than  that  of  professional  or  mercantile  men 


56 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


in  their  several  realms.  It  is  only  when  the  pastor 
through  the  teaching  ministry  has  revealed  himself 
as  worthy  to  hold  such  a  position  that  he  reaches 
a  place  of  authority.  The  uneducated  minister  can 
seldom  attain  such  a  place  with  those  who  are  the 
products  of  our  institutions  of  learning.  Some  years 
ago  the  writer  was  informed  of  an  overchurched 
town  of  about  four  thousand  inhabitants  in  which 
there  were  forty  men  and  women  who  had  received 
earned  degrees  of  various  kinds  from  our  best  col¬ 
leges  and  universities  in  the  East  and  in  the  West. 
The  appalling  fact  was  that  not  one  of  the  five 
pastors  of  churches  in  that  town  had  ever  seen  the 
inside  of  a  college  or  of  a  theological  seminary.  In 
other  words,  there  were  immediately  about  these 
ministers  many  influential  citizens  who  had  made 
themselves  inhabitants  of  the  great  worlds  of  litera¬ 
ture,  science,  art,  and  thinking,  while  the  spiritual 
leaders  in  the  community  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
these  vast  realms,  and  were  not  even  expert  in  their 
own  specialty.  Moreover,  annually  there  was  an  out¬ 
put  from  the  high  school  of  young  men  and  young 
women  bent  upon  still  further  intellectual  develop¬ 
ment.  These  had  to  go  through  their  training  with¬ 
out  any  glimpses  of  the  affinity  of  religion  with 
their  culture  in  all  realms,  and  without  the  stimulus 
that  might  have  been  theirs  had  they  been  shep¬ 
herded  in  their  mental  and  spiritual  natures  by 
pastors  whose  teaching  was  as  valuable  to  their 
moral  and  religious  lives  as  their  high-school  edu¬ 
cation  was  to  their  physical,  intellectual,  and  social 
natures.  The  degree  men  and  women  of  that  town 
could  consult  libraries  about  history,  science,  and 
art,  and  the  youthful  incarnate  interrogation-marks 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  57 


could  go  to  the  high-school  faculty  for  authoritative 
information  concerning  matters  within  their  mental 
horizon;  but  who  will  say  that  those  five  pastors 
could  speak  as  authoritatively  about  the  Bible  and 
religion  as  the  lawyers,  doctors,  and  teachers  in 
their  several  spheres?  One  trembles  to  think  of  the 
enormous  amount  of  misinformation  possible  under 
such  circumstances.  And  beyond  the  conventional 
respect  that  the  laity  has  for  the  clergyman,  what 
must  be  the  opinion  of  cultured  citizens  as  to  the 
educational  function  of  ministers  who  are  not  quali¬ 
fied  as  teachers  in  their  own  specialty?  The  min¬ 
ister  stands  for  Jesus  Christ  and  his  ideals  and  for 
the  unfolding  of  Christian  life  as  revealed  in  the 
Scriptures.  These  are  the  spheres  in  which  he  is 
to  shine,  and  be  as  authoritative  in  his  position  as 
the  lawyer,  the  doctor,  the  professor,  and  any  others 
of  the  various  social  functionaries  whose  lives  min¬ 
ister  to  the  public  good.  No  pastor  can  afford  to 
stand  aloof  from  the  life  he  seeks  to  affect.  Nor 
can  he  afford  to  be  ignored  by  those  who  are  giving 
their  lives  to  the  education  of  the  young.  Nor  is  he 
worthy  of  his  high  calling  if  he  fails  to  qualify  him¬ 
self  as  thoroughly  as  possible  for  his  position  by 
becoming  both  authoritative  in  knowledge  and 
Christ-like  in  life. 

4.  Mediating  Truth  to  Modern  Life 

The  teaching  pastor  who  pursues  the  historical 
method  of  Bible  study,  and  teaches  accordingly,  can 
mediate  to  a  growing  world  the  eternal  truths  of  the 
Bible  in  such  a  way  as  will  commend  them  to  the 
appreciation  and  acceptance  of  the  educated  com¬ 
munity.  He  will  carefully  distinguish  between 


58 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


vehicle  and  content.  He  will  know  the  difference 
between  the  water  of  life  and  the  gourd,  or  skin,  or 
bucket,  or  chalice  in  which  it  came  to  thirsty  souls. 
He  will  be  able  to  disentangle  the  content  from  the 
temporary  and  accidental  form,  and  to  put  the  eter¬ 
nal  ideal  into  a  current  contemporary  form  in  which 
it  will  be  easily  assimilable.  This  was  the  master 
art  of  our  Lord  as  a  teacher.  Every  parable  is  a 
witness  to  his  divine  expertness  in  conveying  new 
and  unfamiliar  truth  through  forms  and  expres¬ 
sions  well  known  to  his  hearers.  When  he  said,12 
“  The  Kingdom  of  heaven  is  like,”  it  seems  as  if 
his  mind  was  teeming  with  vehicles  for  the  spiritual 
ideals  that  he  would  express.  Was  it  not  as  if,  to 
him,  the  kingdom  was  a  vast  sphere  inclusive  of  all 
life's  relations  and  processes,  and  all  the  so-called 
“  secular  ”  spheres  of  living  like  globules  attaching 
themselves  for  the  moment  to  the  inside  of  the  com¬ 
prehensive  globe,  and  their  points  of  tangency 
furnishing  splendid  and  forever  priceless  glimpses 
of  the  kind  of  living  personal  and  social  he  came  to 
establish?  One  cannot  help  wondering  what  he 
would  do  today  in  parables  with  this  modern  life  so 
vastly  richer  than  Oriental  Palestinian  life  in  his 
day.  However  fascinating  the  vehicle,  it  was  only 
a  transient  carrier  of  an  eternal  truth.  None  can 
doubt  that  were  the  great  Teacher  living  now  he 
would  use  our  twentieth-century  life  of  which  we 
are  part,  rather  than  require  an  archeological  edu¬ 
cation  in  modern  hearers  by  recurring  to  modes  of 
life  long  since  passed  away.  The  intelligent  pastor 
can  retranslate  the  everlasting  principles  revealed 
in  Biblical  literature  into  modern  terms. 

12  Matt.  7  :  24  ;  11  :  16  ;  13  :  24  ;  18  :  23  ;  Mark  4  :  30  ;  13  :  28. 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  59 


Is  it  not  pitiful  today  when  preachers  identify 
the  wagon  with  the  food  it  contains,  the  words  with 
the  thoughts  they  seek  to  express,  the  garments  with 
the  person  ?  All  teaching  pastors  with  correct  view¬ 
points  and  methods  will  escape  such  a  blunder  as 
the  effort  to  make  men  accept  the  accidental  vehicle 
as  equal  in  value  with  the  essential  truth.  An  edu¬ 
cated  element  in  a  community  by  the  very  processes 
and  results  of  its  education  long  since  learned  to 
make  this  discrimination.  Probably  there  is  no 
closer  union  between  vehicle  and  substance  than 
that  between  thought  and  language.  Nevertheless, 
the  same  thought  can  be  expressed  in  each  of  the 
thousand  and  more  dialects  of  the  world  as  easily 
as  a  human  body  can  change  its  clothes.  Precisely 
what  has  taken  place  in  all  translations  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  where  an  idea  expressed  in  a  foreign  tongue 
has  been  translated  into  vernacular  speech,  is  hap¬ 
pening  when  ideas  and  realities  are  being  reinter¬ 
preted  in  each  age,  each  race,  and  generation  by 
teachers  who  know  how  to  help  their  contempor¬ 
aries.  The  great  miracle  of  Pentecost  is  being  re¬ 
peated  on  a  smaller  scale  wherever  men  of  diverse 
history,  temperament,  antecedents,  racial  peculiari¬ 
ties,  and  conditions  infinitely  varied  are  hearing 
each  “  in  his  own  language  ” 13  the  same  eternal 
truths.  The  aspiration  to  do  this  is  deep  in  the  soul 
of  every  true  minister  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  wishes 
to  make  “  the  truth  as  in  Jesus  ”  14  intelligible  and 
assimilable.  The  ability  to  do  this  depends  upon  his 
own  facility  to  discover  the  reality  in  whatever  acci¬ 
dental  vehicle  or  historical  form  it  has  come  to  him ; 

13  Acts  2  :  6. 

14  Eph.  4  :  21. 


60 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


and  also  upon  his  acquaintance  with  the  life  around 
him,  and  his  skill  in  taking  the  truth  thus  brought  to 
him  by  his  ability  to  disentangle  the  eternal  from  the 
transient,  and  through  the  use  of  current  forms  of 
life  and  thought  to  restate  the  great  things  he  has 
discovered.  Only  the  teaching  pastor  can  do  this 
with  expertness.  It  is  essential  in  his  pedagogical 
ministry.  Indeed,  it  is  questionable  whether  there  is 
a  higher  type  of  preaching  than  this  very  ability  to 
teach  eternal  reality  in  contemporary  forms.  Every 
real  sermon  based  upon  the  Scriptures  is  a  severe 
homiletic  exercise  in  this  very  art.  Our  Lord  seldom 
exhorted.  He  stated  spiritual  reality  to  those  who 
heard  him  in  the  terms  of  their  own  lives  and  of  the 
processes  of  living  with  which  they  were  familiar, 
and  depended  upon  the  spirit  of  God  who  broods  over 
every  heart  to  warm  the  ideals  and  ideas  which  he 
thus  expressed  into  power  to  appeal  to  the  will  and 
the  conscience  with  its  attendant  emotions.  With 
him  preaching  was  teaching.  He  took  the  very  best 
out  of  the  Old  Testament  and  reshaped  it  for  the 
life  of  his  day.  In  addition  he  brought  new  concep¬ 
tions,  but  was  careful  to  give  them  in  a  way  that 
could  be  easily  understood.  It  is  one  thing  for  a  min¬ 
ister  to  state  a  truth  and  exhort,  appeal,  and  plead. 
God  be  thanked  for  all  who  do  this !  It  is  a  different 
and  more  effective  method  to  build  into  the  human 
mind  and  conscience  a  great  spiritual  reality,  and  rely 
upon  the  Holy  Spirit  to  make  this  a  living  and  com¬ 
pulsory  power  in  the  lives  of  men.  This  latter  way 
is  that  revealed  to  us  in  our  modern  processes  of 
education.  Those  who  have  experienced  the  benefits 
of  our  colleges  and  universities  can  best  be  reached 
by  the  pastor  who  uses  precisely  the  same  processes 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  61 


which  educated  men  and  women  have  pursued  in 
their  education  for  propagating  the  divine  ideals  and 
spiritual  realities  with  which  he  in  his  ministry 
is  exclusively  concerned.  The  vernacular  of  our 
educated  classes  today  is  not  that  of  the  first  cen¬ 
tury,  nor  medieval.  Our  thought  forms  are  not 
those  of  the  picturesque  Orient.  Our  whole  edu¬ 
cational  system  is  under  the  dominion  of  modern 
science.  We  cannot  change  it  if  we  would.  And  the 
contemporary  preacher  would  not  if  he  could.  We 
cannot  be  enthusiastic  for  our  modern  education, 
whole-hearted  in  devotion  to  our  schools  and  col¬ 
leges,  and  at  the  same  time  expect  to  impress  facul¬ 
ties  and  students  in  these  institutions  that  we 
profess  to  admire  by  presenting  the  truths  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  contain  in  terms  foreign  to  the  conceptions  and 
methods  of  the  schools.  The  teaching  pastor  will  be 
a  real  mediator,  one  with  Jesus  Christ,  and  also  one 
with  the  educated  people  of  his  community.  He  will 
thus  bring  to  those  who  are  the  beneficiaries  of 
modern  learning,  who  are  also  its  apostles,  the 
greater  benefit  of  the  heavenly  realities  God  has  un¬ 
veiled  and  is  continuously  revealing.  He  will  be 
the  neck  of  the  hour-glass  through  which  will  come 
to  contemporaries  and  to  posterity  the  opulent 
grains  of  past  experience  of  God  in  life. 

5.  Evangelization  of  the  Cultured 

The  evangelization  of  the  educated  community  is 
not  the  least  of  the  perplexing  problems  presented 
to  the  Christian  church.  It  does  seem  as  if  the 
church  has  fallen  into  unfortunate  conditions.  The 
great  world  of  labor  is  alienated.  Many  working 
men  declare  that  the  church  has  surrendered  to  the 


62 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


moneyed  interests  and  is  under  the  dominance  of 
capital.  In  many  churches  considered  wealthy  and 
fashionable  there  is  not  to  be  found  a  single  wage- 
earner.  Even  if  all  our  churches  were  composed  of 
those  whom  we  call  working  people,  the  need  for 
the  teaching  pastor  would  be  unspeakable.  On  the 
other  hand,  while  there  are  many  men  and  women 
of  wealth  who  are  earnest,  active  Christians,  most 
of  those  who  are  rich  in  this  world’s  goods  have  but 
slight  connection  with  the  spiritual  interests  of  our 
churches.  They  are  not  found  in  prayer-meetings 
and  church  schools  and  at  Sunday-evening  services, 
and  are  seldom  active  in  evangelistic  enterprises. 
One  after  another  these  classes  seem  to  have  broken 
with  our  churches. 

Today  the  divorce  between  the  intellectual  com¬ 
munity  and  the  church  is  conspicuous.  Many  who 
formerly  were  church-members  have  become  alien¬ 
ated  through  their  educational  experiences.  There 
should  be  no  dearth  of  teachers  in  our  church 
schools  when  we  think  of  the  vast  numbers  of 
those  who  have  been  trained  in  higher  institutions 
of  learning,  and  of  the  large  number  who  belong 
to  the  teaching  class.  Yet  it  is  recognized  that 
the  crucial  problem  in  all  our  church  schools 
is  that  of  securing  proper  teachers.  Shall  the 
church  make  efforts  to  minister  to  the  wage- 
earners  and  working  people  by  standing  for  simple 
justice  in  the  industrial  world,  and  seek  also  to 
Christianize  the  wealth  of  the  earth  which  is  so 
essential  for  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  to  sustain  its  philanthropies  and  colleges,  and 
to  spread  the  gospel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  not 
seek  to  reach  the  educated  elements  in  the  com- 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  63 


munity  and  bring  their  influence  and  talents  into 
captivity  to  Jesus  Christ?  It  is  with  this  last  prob¬ 
lem  that  we  are  now  concerned.  It  must  be  evident 
that  the  ignorant  preacher  has  slim  opportunity 
to  reach  this  influential  element  of  the  community, 
and  that  the  probability  of  his  success  is  small.  It 
is  hard  enough  for  the  educated  teaching  pastor  to 
do  this  most  desirable  work,  but  he  has  a  thousand 
chances  where  any  other  kind  of  a  preacher  has  one. 
There  are  many  tangencies  the  educated  teaching 
pastor  can  establish  which  are  impossible  to  one 
whose  ministry  is  not  characterized  by  the  teaching 
function.  All  the  factors  of  a  given  community 
which  make  for  its  higher  life  should  work  together. 
How  pitiful  is  the  plight  of  any  pastor  in  a  parish 
where  teachers,  lawyers,  doctors,  and  educated  peo¬ 
ple  with  unbounded  respect  for  one  another  and  con¬ 
fidence  in  the  culture,  expertness,  and  highminded¬ 
ness  of  one  another  fail  to  take  into  their  group  in 
their  united  service  for  the  community  the  minister 
who  represents  the  moralization  of  all  life’s  proc¬ 
esses  and  the  spiritualization  of  all  its  ideals.  A 
wide-open  door  to  participation  with  these  classes 
in  all  community  enterprises  is  offered  by  the  identi¬ 
fication  of  the  ministry  with  the  teaching  element 
in  the  community.  There  is  hardly  any  limit  to  this 
service.  Once  in  a  while  some  outstanding  character 
may  be  able  by  the  sheer  weight  of  his  personality 
and  the  commanding  influence  of  his  position  to  be¬ 
come  powerful  and  to  attract  the  educated  and  the 
cultured.  But  for  most  of  us  ordinary  beings,  who 
must  be  content  to  work  in  comparative  obscurity, 
the  direct  way  to  bring  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  the  educated  persons  of  a  neighborhood  and  to 


64 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


the  teaching  force  of  a  community  is  by  our  identifi¬ 
cation  with  them.  Such  evangelism  as  will  be  effec¬ 
tive,  however,  must  be  of  a  different  type  from  that 
pursued  by  those  who  rely  upon  emotions  or  sensa¬ 
tionalism,  who  depend  upon  appeals  to  fear  or  to 
feeling. 

Modern  education  tries  to  do  four  things  for  the 
student,  none  of  which  is  the  mere  impartation  of 
information,  which  is  a  by-product.  At  the  end  of 
the  process  it  asks,  not  “  What  does  the  graduate 
know?  ”  but  “  What  has  he  become?  ”  These  four 
aims  of  education  are  all  essentially  Christian.  Our 
Lord  insisted  upon  them  all.  They  are : 

First,  the  enthronement  of  the  'passion  for  reality. 
Only  that  is  worthy  of  whole-hearted  consecration. 
Tradition,  sentiment,  mere  human  authority,  custom, 
and  usage  have  no  weight  whatever  against  reality. 
The  modern  educated  man  “  draws  the  thing  as  he 
sees  it  for  the  God  of  things  as  they  are.”  The  world 
has  too  long  suffered  from  the  enslaving  influences 
of  ignorance,  error,  and  superstition.  Education 
today  is  redemptive  in  that  it  is  delivering  humanity 
slowly  but  surely  from  bondage  to  that  trinity  of 
blights. 

Again,  the  educated  man  trusts  himself  to  dis¬ 
cover  reality.  He  is  not  content  to  accept  anything 
simply  upon  the  assertion  of  others.  He  reserves 
the  right  to  investigate  for  himself.  True  it  is  that 
where  he  has  confidence  in  those  who  are  qualified 
in  their  several  realms  for  thorough  investiga¬ 
tion  he  is  willing  to  accept  statements.  Neverthe¬ 
less,  he  has  not  surrendered  his  right  to  investigate 
for  himself  if  he  desires  to  do  so.  The  highest 
degree  given  at  a  modern  college,  that  of  Doctor 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  65 

* 


of  Philosophy,  simply  means  that  the  recipient  has 
proved  that  he  knows  how  to  use  his  own  powers 
in  the  search  for  reality. 

Again,  our  modern  education  insists  upon  the 
open  mind.  There  is  hardly  anything  more  irksome 
to  the  truly  educated  modern  man  than  the  demand 
that  something  shall  be  protected  from  his  research, 
or  that  any  matter  be  closed,  or  that  he  is  not  at 
liberty  to  change  his  mind  if  facts  compel  him  to 
do  so.  The  thought  of  finality  as  already  achieved 
is  distasteful.  We  must  be  free  to  study  anything 
whatsoever,  and  we  must  have  open  minds  to  re¬ 
ceive  any  new  light  that  God  may  send  upon  any¬ 
thing  whatsoever.  Education  does  not  produce  her¬ 
metically  sealed  souls.  In  our  punctuation  of  think¬ 
ing  we  have  use  for  commas  when  we  take  fresh 
breaths,  for  semicolons  to  indicate  our  classifications 
so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  make  them,  for  in¬ 
terrogation-marks  for  use  of  inquiring  spirits,  for 
exclamation-points  to  indicate  our  delights  or  dis¬ 
appointments,  for  multitudes  of  asterisks  and  dashes 
to  show  our  ignorance,  but  no  use  for  periods.  These 
are  the  sealed  locks  that  prejudices  or  preconcep¬ 
tions  put  upon  opinions.  “  Most  men’s  conclusions 
are  the  places  where  they  grow  tired  of  thinking.” 

Once  more,  modern  education  stimulates  the  social 
consciousness.  The  pursuit  of  knowledge  is  a  social 
matter.  No  man  can  claim  to  have  established  his 
contentions  beyond  the  right  of  others  to  test  his 
conclusions.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  and  stir¬ 
ring  visions  of  progress  in  knowledge  is  the  way 
in  which  investigators  in  all  realms  work  together, 
test  one  another’s  experiments  and  researches,  and 
stand  together  in  adherence  to  results  which  have 


66 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


been  obtained  by  proper  methods,  and  use  their 
results  for  the  common  good. 

This  brief  description  of  what  an  educated  person 
is  today  will  raise  certain  questions  concerning  the 
ministry  of  a  preacher  who  wishes  to  bring  into  the 
lives  of  educated  people  the  eternal  realities  of  Jesus 
Christ.  We  soon  discover  that  these  four  character¬ 
istics  of  an  educated  person  are  essentially  Chris¬ 
tian.  Only  reality  emancipates.  All  else  enslaves. 
If  God  be  the  supreme  Reality  he  can  build  no  king¬ 
dom  anywhere  upon  any  other  foundation.  In  re¬ 
ligion  Jesus  declared  that  he  was  the  reality.15  In 
the  words  of  our  Lord,16  “  The  truth  shall  make  you 
free,”  there  is  reflected  the  enthusiasm  for  reality 
and  the  profound  ethical  passion  involved  in  the  pur¬ 
suit  of  it.  The  trust  of  ourselves  to  discover  reality 
is  also  involved  in  the  statement  of  our  Lord,17  “  The 
light  of  the  body  is  the  eye.”  Our  entire  rational 
nature  functions  in  the  pursuit  of  truth.  The  whole 
being  is  involved.  The  light  that  is  in  us  illuminates 
what  comes  into  our  souls.  We  must  trust  ourselves 
and  must  carefully  guard  all  powers  of  our  being 
so  that  we  may  understand  and  appreciate  the  light 
that  comes  from  the  Father  of  lights.  “  The  pure 
in  heart  see  God  ” 18  here  and  now.  Moreover, 
Jesus  insisted  upon  the  open  mind  as  the  very  first 
condition  of  entering  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
“  Unless  you  turn  and  become  as  little  children,  you 
cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven.”  19  No  man 
has  ever  entered  any  kingdom  with  which  God  has 

15  John  14  :  6. 

16  John  8  :  32. 

17  Matt.  6  :  22,  23 ;  Luke  11  .  34-36. 

18  Matt.  5  :  8  ;  cf .  Titus  1  :  15. 

19  Matt.  18  :  3. 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  67 


to  do  without  this  spirit  of  receptivity.  Jacob  did 
not  win  Canaan  by  cunning,  but  only  as  Israel  upon 
his  knees.  Prejudices,  preconceptions,  preposses¬ 
sions,  closed  hearts,  and  sealed  souls  prevent  en¬ 
trance  into  any  of  God's  kingdoms.  Like  little  chil¬ 
dren  with  wide-open  minds  we  must  receive  the 
gifts  in  all  God's  realms,  most  of  all  in  spiritual 
things.  We  need  not  dwell  upon  our  Lord’s  insis¬ 
tence  upon  the  social  consciousness.  The  entire 
ministry  of  Jesus,  as  well  as  many  direct  sayings, 
reveals  the  fact  that  no  man  lives  unto  himself. 

Here  are  four  vital  points  of  tangency  between  the 
educated  preacher  and  the  teaching  classes  in  our 
schools  and  the  cultured  elements  in  our  communi¬ 
ties.  If  the  ministry  of  the  teaching  preacher  will 
demonstrate  his  passion  for  reality  as  over  against 
the  mere  acceptance  of  traditions,  will  show  that  he 
is  not  afraid  to  trust  himself  in  the  pursuit  of 
spiritual  reality,  will  exhibit  a  continuously  open 
mind,  and  will  give  himself  unstintedly  to  the  life 
of  disinterested  service,  he  will  have  close  contacts 
with  the  really  educated.  Our  blessed  religion  not 
only  permits  but  requires  precisely  these  four  things 
upon  which  modern  education  insists.  The  teaching 
pastor  through  these  tangencies  will  find  open  doors 
to  commune  with  teachers  upon  the  claims  of  Christ 
on  their  lives.  Surely  none  who  ignore  or  defy 
these  four  things  may  hope  to  influence  truly  edu¬ 
cated  persons.  Pulpit  ravings  against  science  and 
its  teachers  reveal  ministerial  shallowness. 

6.  Recruiting  Teaching  Forces  in  Religion 

The  ministry  is  universal.  “According  as  each 
received  a  gift,  ministering  it  among  yourselves, 


68 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


as  good  stewards  of  God’s  manifold  grace.”  20  Why 
should  not  the  vast  army  of  teachers  in  our  public 
schools  and  colleges  consecrate  their  special  gifts  to 
the  millions  of  adults  in  our  churches  and  of  chil¬ 
dren  in  church  schools?  Since  teaching  is  known  to 
be  vastly  different  from  parrotlike  repetition  of  lan¬ 
guage,  as  in  Moslem  schools  for  promoting  knowledge 
of  the  Koran,  the  skill  of  those  who  by  profession  are 
expert  could  be  of  untold  service  to  all  connected 
with  churches.  Why  should  not  this  gift  be  seized 
upon  for  religious  education?  Surely  the  methods 
expertly  used  in  teaching  literature  in  grammar 
schools  would  be  as  productive  of  good  results  with 
pupils  of  the  same  ages  in  teaching  the  Bible  in 
church  schools.  Already  there  are  many  kinder¬ 
gartens  in  churches  whose  teachers  bring  to  the 
moral  and  ethical  development  of  the  little  ones  the 
same  methods  they  use  in  the  week-day  schools. 
High-school  teachers  expert  in  dealing  with  adoles¬ 
cents  in  secular  studies  could  accomplish  wonders 
with  the  same  youth  in  teaching  sacred  literature. 
And  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  far  larger  num¬ 
bers  of  adults  would  attend  Bible  classes  on  Sundays 
and  week-days  if  these  were  taught  by  men  and 
women  whose  standing  in  the  educational  world 
would  guarantee  thorough  instruction.  If  the  lives 
of  enough  teachers  could  be  won  to  serve  Christ  and 
men,  and  their  equipment  and  professional  skill 
were  sincerely  consecrated  to  instruction  in  our 
churches  and  their  schools,  the  entire  complexion 
of  religious  educational  work  would  be  changed  for 
the  better.  This  is  in  no  sense  a  plea  for  profession¬ 
alism  in  Sunday  schools,  nor  in  religious  education. 


20 1  Peter  4  :  10. 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  69 


Biblical  instruction  could  never  be  given  in  public 
schools  by  unconverted,  unsympathetic  teachers. 
The  essential  moral  and  religious  qualification  would 
be  lacking.  It  would  be  a  farce.  No  less  would  that 
be  true  in  the  Sunday  school.  But  the  finest  thing 
for  our  church  schools  would  be  an  ample  supply  of 
Christian  teachers  whose  view-points  and  methods 
have  been  recognized  by  standard  educational  tests 
as  the  best,  consecrating  their  gifts  in  the  ministry 
of  religious  education.  The  union  of  Christian 
love  and  enthusiasm  with  psychological  and  peda¬ 
gogical  skill  would  be  ideal.  There  are  many  such 
now  at  work,  yet  their  number  is  very  small  com¬ 
pared  with  the  need.  How  can  this  number  be  in¬ 
creased?  The  teaching  pastor  holds  the  key  to  the 
solution  of  the  problem.  In  some  cases  teachers 
who  would  be  glad  to  serve  cannot  work  with  pastors 
whose  attitudes  and  methods  do  not  comport  with 
those  of  the  educational  world.  In  far  more  cases 
these  teachers  have  quietly  dismissed  the  thought  of 
consecrating  their  gifts  in  religious  instruction. 
And,  alas,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  in  more  instances 
than  can  be  estimated  the  whole  attitude  and  con¬ 
ception  of  churches  and  ministers  has  been  such  as 
to  alienate  members  of  the  teaching  fraternity  from 
the  church  as  a  whole  because  of  hostility  to  modern 
learning,  insistence  upon  outgrown  creedal  tests, 
condemnation  of  scientific  conclusions,  and  mistaken 
characterization  of  schools  as  godless.  The  educated 
pastor  who  will  exercise  a  teaching  ministry  can  do 
much  to  remove  these  difficulties  and  open  the  way 
for  most  efficient  additions  to  the  teaching  forces  of 
his  church.  Though  the  field  of  instruction  may 
differ  from  that  of  the  public  school  and  college, 


70 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


the  methods  will  be  the  same,  and  with  the  blessing 
of  God  the  results  would  compare  favorably  in  re¬ 
ligious  education  with  those  of  the  secular  schools 
in  their  work.  Here  is  a  promising  field  for  the 
teaching  pastor. 

Such  are  at  least  some  of  the  offices  that  a  teach¬ 
ing  pastor  can  render  to  one  element  in  the  com¬ 
munity.  There  can  be  no  question  that  a  specific 
ministry  to  that  element  is  needed  as  much  as  to 
any  other.  Because  of  the  special  function  of 
teachers  in  shaping  young  life,  and  of  the  educated 
in  their  influence  over  life  in  general,  it  is  of  great 
importance  that  religion  shall  have  its  power  over 
their  lives.  The  Book  of  all  others  should  not  be 
buried  beneath  the  avalanche  of  literature  of  all 
kinds  now  rolling  from  presses  that  stop  not  day 
nor  night.  Who  but  pastors  competent  by  training, 
and  devoted  to  giving  the  Scriptures  their  right 
place  in  religion  and  in  general  culture,  can  render 
this  service  to  those  who  mold  personal  and  social 
life  as  does  the  educated  element  in  the  community  ? 
The  work  is  peculiar  and  more  than  any  other  calls 
for  oneness  between  the  pastor  and  the  cultured 
part  of  the  community  life.  All  factors  of  social 
life  are  to  be  evangelized ;  none  can  be  left  out  of  any 
plans  that  are  as  large  as  Christ's  conception  of  his 
kingdom.  None  can  say  that  any  factor  is  more 
important  than  any  other.  The  industrial,  financial, 
esthetic,  artistic,  literary,  and  educational  groups 
alike  come  within  the  hunger  of  the  Saviour  who 
came  to  bring  all  into  right  relation  to  the  heavenly 
Father  and  to  one  another.  Yet  if  means  must  be 
suited  to  ends  in  order  to  achieve  results,  the  edu- 


Oneness  With  the  Educated  Community  71 


cated  minister  whose  idea  of  service  includes  teach¬ 
ing  the  Bible,  will  necessarily  have  special  responsi¬ 
bilities  for  trying  to  reach  those  who  like  himself 
have  devoted  themselves  to  teaching,  and  also  those 
who  have  had  the  blessings  of  education  in  modern 
schools. 


LECTURE  IV 


HIS  MINISTRY  TO  THE  YOUNG 

Young  People  Must  Live  Out  Their  Own  Lives 

Necessarily  the  pastor  must  deal  with  all  ages. 
He  must  serve  life  in  all  stages.  A  vast  variety  of 
needs  will  present  itself  to  him.  We  are  concerned 
now  with  growing  life.  The  ministry  to  the  young 
is  of  special  importance.  Careers  lie  before  those 
whose  past  years  are  few.  To  shape  the  lives  of  to¬ 
morrow  is  a  work  of  great  responsibility.  Today 
we  discard  notions  derived  from  figures  based  upon 
the  plasticity  of  youth.  We  no  longer  seek  to  mold 
life  as  if  it  were  clay  or  putty,  impressing  ourselves 
upon  youthful  life  to  make  it  in  our  own  image, 
and  denting  it  with  our  own  peculiarities.  We  re¬ 
gard  young  life  rather  as  a  vine  with  its  own  vitality, 
present  human  experience  as  a  trellis,  and  stimulate 
the  plant  to  develop  according  to  its  own  nature. 
Every  young  life  conscious  of  itself  feels  as  did 
David  in  his  teens  when  the  traditionalists  put  Saul's 
armor  upon  him.  He  uttered  immortal  words 1 
which  should  be  graven  deep  in  the  consciousness  of 
every  young  person :  “  I  cannot  go  in  these."  No 
human  being  can  kill  giants  with  the  equipment  of 
another.  His  own  sling  and  stone  are  worth  far 
more  than  all  the  accouterment  from  the  arsenals 
of  another.  David  fought  a  great  battle  between 

1 1  Sam.  17  :  39. 

72 


His  Ministry  to  the  Young 


73 


originality  and  conventionality.  It  occurred  in  his 
own  soul.  The  world  is  moved  forward  only  when 
originality  wins  in  the  contest  with  conventionality. 
What  has  served  its  purpose  in  the  past  does  not 
necessarily  achieve  results  in  a  new  day  with 
changed  conditions  and  fresh  antagonists.  This 
characteristic  spirit  of  youth  claims  the  skilful  atten¬ 
tion  of  the  pastor.  We  may  not  make  illustrative 
excursions  into  the  fields  of  practical  life,  for  our 
concern  now  is  specially  with  the  teaching  function 
of  the  minister.  Each  generation  must  live  out  its 
own  life.  Each  soul  is  God’s  real  estate  2  tilled  by 
all  the  past  and  yet  enriched  by  its  own  contempor¬ 
ary  life  and  personal  efforts.  Each  generation 
hands  on  to  its  successor  the  wealth  of  the  past  in¬ 
creased  by  its  own  attainments. 

I.  Discoveries  Concerning  Religious  Education 

1.  Neglected  in  Most  Homes 

No  intelligent  pastor  can  long  be  the  servant  of 
any  group  of  people  who  does  not  make  certain  im¬ 
portant  discoveries  concerning  both  old  and  young 
with  regard  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures. 

Education  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible  is  vir¬ 
tually  ignored  in  the  home.  Parents  no  longer  ex¬ 
ercise  the  mediatorial  priestly  function.  The  good 
old  days  when  the  family  gathered  around  the 
parent  who  conducted  household  worship  seem  to 
have  vanished.  This  beautiful  and  helpful  service 
at  least  produced  an  impression  upon  the  lives  of  the 

2 1  Cor.  3  :  9.  Cf.  I>eut.  32  :  9  ;  Jer.  10  :  16,  where  the  word  for 
farm  has  developed  into  a  name  for  Israel. 


74 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


children  which  all  subsequent  experiences  did  not 
efface.  There  was  only  the  devotional  use  of  the 
Bible,  but  much  of  its  language  stuck  to  memory, 
and  in  after  years  certain  words  and  conceptions 
of  the  Scriptures  came  out  of  the  storehouses  of 
memory  and  achieved  important  results  in  the  lives 
of  the  mature.  In  only  a  few  homes  relatively  has 
even  this  praiseworthy  custom  continued.  Now 
there  is  little  or  no  Biblical  instruction  in  the  home. 
However,  more  than  a  decade  ago,  mothers  are  read¬ 
ing  Bible  stories  to  their  children.  Books  have 
been  issued  which  tell  these  narratives  so  far  as 
possible  in  the  very  words  of  the  Bible.  Children 
who  read  these  stories  or  listen  to  them  are  becom¬ 
ing  acquainted  with  incidents  and  persons  in  Biblical 
history.  Occasionally  some  interested  mothers  and 
far  fewer  interested  fathers  take  the  time  to  go  over 
the  church-school  lessons  with  their  boys  and  girls, 
and  try  to  help  their  children  to  obtain  a  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures.  Probably  such  parents  are  now 
learning  more  than  they  ever  knew  before  by  such 
aid  to  their  offspring.  So  far  as  adult  study  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  home  is  concerned,  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  very  little  is  now  done.  Books  which 
give  aid  to  an  intelligent  study  of  the  Bible  have  not 
yet  found  a  place  in  many  home  libraries,  nor  are 
they  read  by  Christian  fathers  and  mothers  as 
eagerly  as  the  latest  novel.  Why  should  not  parents 
who  help  their  children  with  lessons  assigned  by  the 
public  school,  with  equal  enthusiasm  aid  their  chil¬ 
dren  in  studying  the  lessons  given  by  the  church 
school?  We  do  not  refer  to  classes  of  boys  and  girls 
organized  for  catechetical  instruction  with  refer¬ 
ence  to  church-membership.  We  are  confining  our- 


His  Ministry  to  the  Young 


75 


selves  wholly  to  a  real  study  of  the  Scriptures.  To 
no  appreciable  extent  are  homes  factors  in  promot¬ 
ing  the  same  real  study  of  the  Scriptures  that  is 
given  to  history  and  literature  in  lessons  assigned 
by  the  public  schools  for  home  study. 

2.  Unsatisfactory  in  Many  Church  Schools 

The  efforts  of  the  church  school  are  mostly  un¬ 
satisfactory  in  spite  of  the  tremendous  advances 
made  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  Very  often 
boys  and  girls  are  forced  to  go,  and  find  themselves 
in  the  church  school  with  a  reluctant  spirit  that  is 
essentially  unreceptive.  Far  too  often  indifferent 
parents  indulge  their  children,  and  absences  from 
the  church  school  are  regarded  with  complacency. 
The  equipment  of  the  school  is  not  such  as  to  make 
the  pupil  enthusiastic.  The  teachers  yet  constitute 
the  main  problem.  Often  these  are  for  the  most  part 
well-meaning,  pious  people,  who,  without  training  or 
any  proper  knowledge  of  the  Bible  themselves  seek 
to  comment  upon  passages  in  sermonets  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  impressing  moral  lessons,  or  who  strive  for 
letter-perfect  recitation  of  catechisms,  or  who  have 
gone  through  various  so-called  “  lesson  helps  ”  and 
mentally  scissor  hortatory  patches  from  these  to 
make  a  sort  of  homiletic  crazy  quilt  to  throw  over 
youthful  souls  that  they  vainly  imagine  are  shiv¬ 
ering  with  the  chilliness  of  ignorance  or  the  icy  dark¬ 
ness  of  sin.  Let  us  cheerfully  grant  that  all  who 
undertake  this  work,  even  without  training,  deserve 
the  highest  praise  for  the  motives  they  have  and  the 
efforts  they  make  to  help  others  into  knowledge  of 
the  way  of  life.  The  object  of  the  church  school 
today  prevailingly  seems  to  be  evangelization 


76 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


through  appeal  rather  than  through  education,  to 
persuade  the  pupils  to  join  the  church  through 
various  kinds  of  importunities,  rather  than  so  to 
present  the  truth  that  by  its  own  power  under  the 
brooding  of  the  Holy  Spirit  it  shall  seize  upon  the 
hearts  of  the  pupils.  Think  of  the  olden  days  when 
there  was  a  uniform  lesson  system  and  precisely  the 
same  ten  verses  of  the  Bible  were  presented  to  the 
little  tots  ten  years  old  and  the  grown  folks  as  well. 
Often  these  selections  from  visions  of  Ezekiel  or  of 
the  Apocalypse  were  made  to  do  duty  for  all  ages, 
from  infants  to  those  approaching  second  child¬ 
hood,  without  reference  to  differences  of  experience 
or  ability.  A  happier  day  came  upon  us  when 
graded  lessons  were  introduced.  Nevertheless,  in 
spite  of  efforts  to  make  the  church  school  a  real 
school,  thoroughly  educational  in  its  processes  and 
results,  the  overwhelming  majority  of  our  schools 
have  not  yet  responded  to  this  ideal,  which  indeed 
is  not  yet  appreciated  by  a  very  large  proportion 
of  them. 

3.  Superior  Equipment  and  Methods  of  State  Schools 

Compare  these  institutions  with  the  public  schools 
of  all  grades.  Contrast  lesson  leaflets,  too  often 
cheap  in  material  and  character,  with  handsomely 
illustrated  and  well-bound  text-books.  Over  against 
thoroughly  trained  teachers  set  the  well-meaning 
volunteers  who  know  comparatively  little  about 
what  they  are  to  teach  and  the  psychology  and 
pedagogy  of  instruction.  Contrast  the  voluntary 
and  tardy  attendance  on  Sundays  with  compulsory, 
punctual  presence  on  week-days.  Set  side  by  side 
the  scanty  church-school  equipment,  which  is  little 


His  Ministry  to  the  1  oung 


77 


more  than  a  shelter,  and  the  handsome,  attractive, 
well-furnished,  and  adequate  buildings  for  the  train¬ 
ing  which  the  State  is  giving  to  its  wards.  Compare 
the  methods  of  instruction  pursued  by  the  untrained 
Bible  teachers  with  those  followed  by  instructors 
in  State  schools.  Think  of  the  difference  between 
all  kinds  of  apparatus  at  the  disposal  of  the  scholar 
in  the  public  schools  and  an  almost  utter  deficiency 
of  maps,  blackboards,  stereopticon  pictures,  material 
for  making  models,  and  all  other  facilities  for  mak¬ 
ing  indelible  impressions  upon  the  minds  of  the 
scholars. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  same  people  who  attend 
public  schools  five  days  in  the  week  and  go  to  the 
church  schools  for  an  hour  and  a  half  on  Sunday, 
receive  these  impressions:  that  botany,  chemistry, 
biology,  geography,  history,  and  everything  else  they 
study  on  week-days  is  worthy  of  the  best  that  can 
be  provided  by  taxation  to  enable  them  to  learn  and 
to  train  their  minds  in  the  processes  of  acquiring 
knowledge,  but  that  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  Christ- 
like  character,  right  social  relations,  and  Christian¬ 
ity  itself  is  content  with  careless  methods,  meager 
equipments,  inadequate  text-books,  untrained  teach¬ 
ers,  and  the  absence  of  anything  that  will  compare 
with  the  equipment  of  the  day-school?  Is  it  a  won¬ 
der  that  the  young  come  to  feel  that  the  State  is 
generously  eager  to  produce  intelligent  citizens 
while  the  Church  is  willingly  parsimonious  in  ef¬ 
forts  to  produce  intelligent  Christians?  Will  not 
the  young  person  also  be  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  in  the  public  schools  he  is  taught  to  observe 
facts,  to  have  a  sense  of  their  majesty,  and  to  draw 
his  own  inferences  from  facts,  while  in  the  church 


78 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


school  he  is  expected  to  receive  certain  statements 
upon  an  authority  which  he  may  not  interrogate? 
Undaunted  and  unafraid,  he  attacks  every  subject 
brought  to  him  in  the  public  school,  and  is  encour¬ 
aged  to  think  for  himself.  In  the  church  school  his 
teachers  are  apt  to  tell  him  that  the  interrogation- 
mark  must  be  omitted  from  his  mental  furniture. 
Is  it  not  true  that  on  Sundays  religion  seems  to 
come  to  him  sealed  with  an  inviolable  stamp,  while 
on  week-days  all  other  knowledge  is  open  to  him  and 
insists  upon  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry?  How  seldom 
he  is  urged  to  have  the  mood  of  the  simple  shepherds 
of  Bethlehem  who  said  3  in  the  face  of  words  from 
heaven  and  the  vision  in  the  skies,  “  Let  us  now  go 
all  the  way  to  Bethlehem,  and  see  this  thing  that 
has  come  to  pass.”  In  other  words,  does  the  church 
school  supply  the  same  inspiration  and  have  the 
same  insistent  demands  for  personal  investigation 
in  the  study  of  the  Bible  that  are  noticeable  in  sec¬ 
ular  education?  Although  it  may  not  be  sufficiently 
clear  to  find  expression  in  language,  this  contrast  is 
mentally  made  by  our  boys  and  girls.  It  is  felt 
and  acted  rather  than  spoken.  Soon  the  work  of 
the  church  school  comes  to  take  a  lower  place  in 
the  esteem  of  young  people  than  that  of  the  public 
school. 

4.  Influence  of  the  Non-academic  Curriculum 

Let  us  also  think  of  what  we  may  call  the  non- 
academic  curriculum  in  which  all  our  young  people 
are  being  more  or  less  educated.  Life  outside  of  the 
home,  the  public  school,  and  the  church  school  is 
constantly  playing  upon  the  lives  of  the  young  and 


3  Luke  2  :  15. 


His  Ministry  to  the  Y  oung 


79 


bringing  hardly  any  suggestion  of  devotion  to  spiri¬ 
tual  reality.4  Newspapers,  magazines,  novels,  bill¬ 
boards,  movies,  entertainments,  sports,  companion¬ 
ships,  the  radio,  and  a  thousand  other  things  are 
pouring  their  contributions  toward  character  into 
the  souls  of  young  people,  and  in  hardly  any  of 
these  does  there  appear  the  slightest  inducement  for 
study  of  the  Bible.  Literature  of  many  kinds  pre¬ 
sents  itself  for  perusal,  while  the  Bible  is  thrust 
aside  and  its  study  is  considered  optional.  Alas, 
that  any  parent  should  ever  punish  a  child  for  read¬ 
ing  some  forbidden  book  or  for  any  other  miscon¬ 
duct  by  compelling  the  boy  or  girl  to  read  so  many 
chapters  in  the  Bible!  What  possible  good  could 
such  a  discipline  accomplish  when  the  reading  of 
the  Scriptures  becomes  punitive?  With  what  kind 
of  spirit  would  any  real  red-blooded  young  person 
read  the  Bible  as  a  matter  of  discipline  except  that 
of  reluctance,  repugnance,  and  the  desire  to  have 
a  disagreeable  experience  ended  as  soon  as  possible  ? 
Not  in  this  repugnant  way  do  the  truths  of  Scrip¬ 
ture  soak  into  the  souls  of  young  people.  What,  let 
us  ask,  is  the  total  educational  effect  of  all  these  non- 
academic  experiences  which  play  upon  the  lives  of 
growing  boys  and  girls?  We  might  ask  identically 
the  same  question  concerning  the  adults.  Is  it  not 
too  true,  alas,  that  all  these  things  work  against 
specific  efforts  which  are  making  for  the  religious 
education  of  young  people  and  for  the  promotion 
of  their  taste  for  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures? 
How  can  they  come  to  love  the  Bible  when  the 
perusal  of  it  is  used  for  punishment,  or  when  life 
and  time  are  so  crowded  with  countless  diverting 


4  Matt.  13  :  22. 


80 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


things,  that  they  do  not  have  nor  will  they  take  time 
for  acquaintance  with  the  highest  and  best  that 
history  has  given? 

5.  Inevitable  Results  of  These  Conditions 

The  inevitable  results  of  these  legacies  of  the  past 
and  of  present  conditions  is  a  falling  away  from 
attendance  upon  the  church  school  and  a  weakening 
of  control  by  the  home  at  the  very  period  of  life 
when  these  are  most  needed.  When  well  into  the 
adolescent  stage  other  interests  so  appeal  to  the 
young  that  it  has  come  to  be  thought  rather  beneath 
the  dignity  of  the  growing  person  to  attend  the 
church  school.  The  Bible  is  regarded  as  a  queer 
literature  not  to  be  studied  as  other  literature.  In¬ 
terest  in  the  spiritual  life  ranks  below  that  in  sports 
and  social  activities.  Diligence  is  given  to  high- 
school  studies  and  to  preparation  for  college  because 
of  inherent  interest  or  of  necessity  to  attain  an 
objective,  and  soon  the  church  school  has  lost  its 
grip.  Nor  does  the  work  of  young  people’s  organi¬ 
zations  compensate  for  this  disaster.  Their  em¬ 
phasis  is  not  upon  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures 
so  much  as  upon  problems  of  practical  life,  con¬ 
temporary  occurrences,  and  the  questions  that  con¬ 
cern  the  soul  developing  in  this  period  of  physical, 
mental,  and  social  ferment.  How  far  our  present 
experiences  in  these  matters  are  due  to  the  past  is 
a  question  into  which  we  cannot  go.  Even  if  we 
could  thoroughly  explain  current  deflections,  that 
would  not  correct  them.  Furthermore,  we  must  re¬ 
member  that  our  modern  ideals  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion  and  the  methods  of  securing  a  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures  that  have  displaced  those  which 


His  Ministry  to  the  Young 


81 


formerly  existed,  have  not  yet  had  one  generation 
of  life  in  which  to  test  the  efficiency  of  these  newer 
methods.  It  is  partly  because  of  our  higher  ideals 
and  better  methods,  and  partly  because  of  changes 
in  life’s  conditions  and  diversions,  that  we  are  con¬ 
fronted  with  the  situations  barely  outlined. 

II.  The  Service  of  the  Pastor 

1.  Anticipating  College  Tests  of  Church-school  W  ork 

What  then  can  the  teaching  pastor  do  in  this 
state  of  affairs?  If  he  really  be  a  lover  of  young 
life,  his  longing  will  be  to  bring  youth  into  posses¬ 
sion  of  the  ideals  of  the  Bible  which  shall  dominate 
their  lives  in  all  relations. 

He  should  remember  that  the  education  in  the 
church  school  will  be  tested  by  college  life.  De¬ 
ficiency  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  even  so 
far  as  their  language  is  concerned,  has  been  amply 
attested  by  examinations  of  those  who  have  entered 
college  life.  Said  a  young  man  not  long  since,  “  I 
could  wish  either  that  there  had  been  no  Bible,  or 
that  the  great  writers  of  literature  had  made  no 
allusion  to  it.”  He  had  been  forced  to  reveal  his 
ignorance  of  the  Scriptures,  and  therefore  the  fact 
that  he  could  not  read  intelligently  certain  great 
masters  in  the  field  of  English  literature.  This  is 
sad  enough,  though  it  disclosed  only  a  lack  of  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  the  language  and  characters  of  the 
Bible.  Worse  than  this,  however,  is  the  fact  that 
such  ignorance  inevitably  proves  that  there  is  no 
knowledge  of  the  meaning  and  message  of  the  Bibli¬ 
cal  books.  The  college  test  was  only  the  trifling 


82 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


storm  that  revealed  the  foundation  of  sand  in  the 
inability  to  read  English  literature  understanding^. 
Worse  storms  play  upon  the  souls  of  young  men 
and  young  women  and  produce  far  more  damaging 
wrecks  than  those  in  the  realm  of  English  literature. 
The  pastor  can  make  it  his  business  to  anticipate 
these  judgment  days  that  come  not  only  in  college 
examinations  in  literature,  but  far  more  in  the  tests 
of  daily  life  and  the  temptations  that  are  sure  to 
arise  from  social  environment.  To  have  ignorance 
revealed  is  only  mortifying.  To  have  a  soul  un¬ 
fortified  by  moral  buttresses  assailed  by  temptations 
is  alarming.  Some  colleges  admit  matriculates  upon 
certificate  of  graduation  by  high  schools.  This 
means  only  that  a  good  foundation  has  been  laid 
for  the  freshman  year’s  work.  Is  it  too  wild  a  ques¬ 
tion  to  ask  whether  the  time  will  ever  come  when  a 
certificate  of  graduation  from  a  church  school  will 
signify  to  a  denominational  college  that  its  possessor 
has  some  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  and  is  also  ethically 
and  religiously  desirable  as  a  matriculate?  Be¬ 
fore  that  time  comes  our  church  schools  must 
make  great  progress.  Do  we  dare  to  hint  that  any 
well-organized  system  of  denominational  education 
will  seek  to  standardize  its  church  schools,  as  well 
as  seek  recognition  for  its  colleges  in  standardized 
State  schemes  of  education?  Teaching  pastors  are 
the  only  agencies  that  can  remove  the  reproach  of 
ignorance  concerning  the  Bible  that  hinders  our 
youth  from  becoming  intelligent  students  of  litera¬ 
ture  in  our  mother  tongue.  When  writers  of  classic 
literature,  and  novelists,  and  contributors  to  maga¬ 
zines,  and  even  editors  of  daily  papers  use  quota¬ 
tions  from  the  Bible,  and  make  allusion  to  its  events 


His  Ministry  to  the  Young 


83 


and  characters,  is  it  not  a  shame  that  products  of 
church  schools  cannot  understand  their  references? 
They  should  at  least  read  literature  intelligently. 


2.  Guarding  Against  Teaching  That  Must  Be  Unlearned 

The  teaching  pastor  can  also  see  that  there  is  no 
teaching  that  must  be  eventually  unlearned.  Why 
should  a  child  grow  up  to  experience  the  dreadful 
shock  of  discovering  that  his  information  and  train¬ 
ing  have  been  mistaken  ?  He  will  soon  come  to  have 
a  contempt  for  an  institution  that  has  fed  his  grow¬ 
ing  mind  upon  conventional  conceptions,  when  those 
who  are  the  purveyors  of  spiritual  truth  have  given 
him  things  that  he  must  cast  aside.  In  his  high 
school  and  college  career  he  will  surely  learn  that 
the  history  of  our  physical  universe  and  of  our 
planet  has  been  turned  over  to  the  sciences  of 
astronomy  and  geology,  and  that  the  story  of  man’s 
origin  and  development  has  been  committed  to  an¬ 
thropology  and  kindred  sciences.  When  he  faces 
the  modern  view  of  the  physical  universe  and  of 
man,  and  finds  that  he  must  either  abandon  the 
Bible  as  a  source  of  scientific  knowledge  of  anything 
whatever,  or  if  he  clings  to  the  error  that  the  Bible 
was  intended  to  teach  science  and  history  and  that 
he  must  throw  away  what  his  schools  teach,  what 
horrible  alternatives  present  themselves  to  his  mind ! 
It  is  more  than  foolish,  it  is  wicked  to  tell  youth 
that  it  must  accept  the  crude,  unscientific  ideas  of 
the  Bible  concerning  psychology,  anthropology,  cos¬ 
mogony,  or  other  matters  relating  to  the  material 
world  or  else  reject  the  Bible  as  a  whole.6  The  Bible 


See  Article  on  “  Ancient  Hebrew  Science,”  by  Allen  Howard  Godbey, 
.  D.,  in  Methodist  Quarterly  Review  ”  for  January,  1923 


6 


84 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


was  not  meant  to  teach  any  sort  of  science,  nor  his¬ 
tory.  Biblical  writers  used  current  ideas  prevail¬ 
ing  in  their  times  as  vehicles  for  religious  and  moral 
conceptions.  They  employed  historical  material  for 
preaching  purposes  without  anxiety  as  to  its  histor¬ 
ical  accuracy.6  For  church  schools  to  ignore  facts 
is  unethical.  To  try  to  force  our  progressively  in¬ 
telligent  youth  to  believe  untrue  theories  as  to  the 
Bible,  or  to  conceal  from  maturing  rational  natures 
the  real  nature  of  the  Scriptures,  is  to  prepare  young 
people  for  inevitable  personal  pain  in  discarding 
errors  conscientiously  believed,  and  to  insure  disgust 
for  persons  and  institutions  that  cause  them  such 
experiences.  The  teaching  pastor  who  really  knows 
his  Bible  can  prevent  all  this  by  seeing  that  the  boys 
and  girls  in  his  congregation  are  never  taught  what 
they  will  have  to  unlearn.  It  is  hard  to  root  out  a 
mistake.  It  is  wiser  to  implant  a  truth.  Pulling  up 
tares  also  injures  the  wheat,7  said  Jesus.  No  one 
has  a  moral  right  to  build  an  error  into  the  mind 
of  a  growing  human  being  and  cause  that  person 
in  later  years  to  experience  the  mental  and  spiritual 
pain  of  casting  out  the  error.  In  religion  we  cannot 
feed  the  growing  mind  upon  fairy  tales  with  a  cer¬ 
tainty  that  afterward  the  adult  will  escape  the  agony 
of  unlearning  and  safely  glide  into  the  reality.  Not 
so  is  the  course  of  religious  instruction.  The  teach¬ 
ing  pastor  will  see  that  this  calamity  is  prevented 
and  will  guard  against  such  a  tragedy  in  the  re¬ 
ligious  experiences  of  growing  youth.  The  enthu¬ 
siasm  of  faith,  if  not  belief  itself,  is  rudely  shocked 
by  such  needless  jolts. 

6  Cf.  1  Sam.  21  :  9  and  2  Sam.  21  :  19  ;  and  other  illustrations. 

7  Matt.  13  :  29. 


His  Ministry  to  the  Young 


85 


3.  Preventing  Moral  Shock  in  Educational  Development 

He  can  also  prevent  the  moral  shock  that  will 
inevitably  come  to  the  misinstructed  person  when  he 
enters  into  wider  regions  of  knowledge  during  a 
college  course.  How  calamitous  this  is,  and  how 
it  vitally  affects  the  future  of  those  who  experience 
it!  At  a  certain  college  under  denominational  aus¬ 
pices  the  visiting  preacher  one  evening  talked  in¬ 
dividually  with  eighteen  young  men.  The  consecu¬ 
tive  interviews  lasted  until  the  early  morning. 
Every  one  of  these  eighteen  was  either  a  junior  or 
a  senior.  Sixteen  of  the  eighteen  had  entered  col¬ 
lege  with  the  view  of  becoming  ministers  of  the 
gospel.  Every  one  of  these  had  abandoned  his  pur¬ 
pose.  The  seventeenth  young  man  came  to  ask  how 
as  a  teacher  of  his  Greek  letter  fraternity  Bible 
class  he  could  pursue  the  same  methods  of  historical 
study  of  the  Bible  that  were  employed  in  the  class¬ 
rooms  of  the  university  where  literature  was  taught. 
The  eighteenth  young  man  came  to  talk  about  the 
possibility  of  entering  the  ministry.  His  initial 
question  was,  “  Can  I  enter  the  ministry  and  retain 
my  intellectual  self-respect  as  it  has  been  developed 
by  my  university  experience?  ”  He  was  urged  not 
to  enter  the  ministry  if  it  meant  the  forfeiting  of 
that  self-respect.  What  was  the  trouble  with  these 
young  men?  It  was  not  due  to  university  training. 
They  had  come  from  churches  where  the  ministers 
were  pious  enough,  and  thoroughly  Christian,  and 
passionately  eager  to  bring  young  life  into  church- 
membership.  But  these  pastors  had  not  been  im¬ 
pressed  with  the  sacred  obligation  of  a  teaching  min¬ 
istry.  They  had  allowed  to  come  into  the  minds  of 


86 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


these  fine  young  fellows  conceptions  of  the  Bible  it¬ 
self  and  ideas  of  incidents  in  the  Bible  which  were 
inevitably  destined  to  be  overthrown  when  these 
young  men  came  into  contact  with  modern  educa¬ 
tional  experiences  and  methods  in  a  first-class  uni¬ 
versity.  They  abandoned  the  ministry  because  in 
their  home  churches,  presided  over  by  men  who  had 
led  them  to  join  the  church,  they  had  seen  in  the 
pastor  himself  no  evidence  of  a  knowledge  of  the 
very  things  they  had  come  to  know  as  reality,  much 
less  any  ability  to  integrate  genuine  Biblical  knowl¬ 
edge  that  was  not  possessed  by  their  good  pastors 
with  the  realities  discovered  in  their  college  life. 
There  were  sixteen  cases  where  tradition  and  bond¬ 
age  to  unintelligent  conceptions  of  the  Bible  had 
been  shivered  by  contact  with  the  truth.  The  holy 
purposes  for  their  lives  had  been  abandoned,  and 
there  was  none  to  save.  Does  this  one  experience 
throw  light  upon  the  dearth  of  men  in  the  ministry? 
Let  us  not  blame  our  educational  institutions.  The 
fault  lies  further  back.  It  lies  with  pastors  who  will 
not  realize  their  obligations  for  the  teaching  min¬ 
istry.  Moreover,  if  one  temporary  college  pastor 
had  in  a  single  night  such  an  experience  with  six¬ 
teen  young  men,  what  would  be  the  situation  at 
all  colleges  if  the  truth  were  known?  The  abun¬ 
dance  of  our  ministerial  supply  is  partly  in  the  keep¬ 
ing  of  intelligent  pastors  who  know  how  to  exer¬ 
cise  a  teaching  ministry.  In  the  face  of  facts  like 
these  let  us  not  mourn  because  our  seminaries  are 
not  crowded  and  pastors  for  churches  are  scarce, 
but  let  us  send  out  those  who  know  how  to  avert  the 
tragedies  indicated  and  to  see  that  young  people 
going  from  their  churches  into  secondary  schools 


His  Ministry  to  the  Young 


87 


and  universities  shall  have  such  a  conception  of  the 
Scriptures  and  of  the  religious  realities  they  were 
intended  to  convey,  that  there  shall  be  no  shock 
when  these  young  people  come  to  study  sciences  and 
are  made  the  beneficiaries  of  our  educational  ideals 
as  outlined  in  the  previous  lecture.  This  integra¬ 
tion  of  true  knowledge  of  the  Bible  with  the  knowl¬ 
edge  that  comes  through  so-called  secular  education 
is  one  of  the  holiest  obligations  in  a  pastor's  rela¬ 
tions  with  his  people. 

4.  Welcoming  College  Graduates  When  They  Return 
Home 

There  is  also  the  vital  problem  of  the  return  of  the 
young  man  or  woman  from  the  college  to  the  home 
church.  How  often  they  look  forward  with  pleasure 
to  resuming  social  relations  in  their  home  towns, 
but  with  dread  to  returning  to  church  connections. 
The  home-church  atmosphere  they  left  has  become 
stale  compared  with  the  one  that  is  fresher  and 
richer  and  more  congenial  to  their  cultured  lives. 
With  what  kind  of  a  reception  will  they  meet?  Will 
there  be  a  place  for  the  attitudes  they  have  acquired 
and  methods  they  have  pursued  and  the  deep  altru¬ 
istic  ambitions  that  have  arisen  in  their  hearts? 
Will  there  be  hospitality  for  them?  Will  they  have 
to  return  to  a  group  yet  under  the  dominion  of  ideas 
and  conceptions  which  these  young  people  have 
thrown  aside  for  what  is  better?  Must  they  return 
to  the  stifling  air  of  conventionality,  or  will  there  be 
room  for  them  to  breathe  the  atmosphere  of  reality? 
This  is  a  fundamental  question.  Just  here  lies  the 
explanation  of  the  fact  that  so  many  graduates  of 
our  colleges  and  universities  when  they  return  to 


88 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


their  homes,  have  a  merely  nominal  connection  with 
their  churches.  What  should  the  teaching  pastor 
say  to  his  congregation  ?  Let  him  give  this  mes¬ 
sage:  “  You  men  and  women  put  your  hands  into 
your  pockets  four  times  partly  or  wholly  for  edu¬ 
cational  purposes.  First,  you  pay  taxes,  part  of 
which  goes  to  support  a  State  scheme  of  education 
which  begins  with  the  kindergarten  and  ends  with 
the  State  university.  A  second  time  you  contribute 
to  found,  support,  and  endow  denominational  schools. 
You  do  well,  for  they  have  an  important  function  in 
the  religious  life  of  young  people.  The  plastic, 
adolescent  period  of  life  is  concurrent  with  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  a  college  career,  and  this  is  the  time  when 
religious  impressions  can  be  implanted  indelibly. 
State  schools  do  not  dare  to  attempt  evangelistic 
or  religious  efforts.  A  third  time  you  put  your 
hands  in  your  pockets  to  send  your  sons  and  daugh¬ 
ters  to  these  State  or  denominational  schools  which 
you  by  taxes  and  gifts  have  founded  and  are  sup¬ 
porting.  It  costs  you  something  to  put  into  the 
minds  and  lives  of  your  children  the  things  for 
which  education  stands.  You  dare  not  deny  them 
the  advantages  which  a  college  career  gives  except 
at  the  awful  expense  of  their  advantageous  future. 
Will  you  a  fourth  time  put  your  hands  in  your 
pockets  to  pay  for  the  salary  of  an  uneducated,  in¬ 
competent  minister  who  will  denounce  as  godless 
the  very  schools  which  your  taxes  and  gifts  have 
established  and  which  you  have  patronized  at  such 
heavy  expense,  and  compel  your  cultured  sons  and 
daughters  upon  their  return  from  college  either  to 
stay  away  from  the  church  if  they  wish  to  main¬ 
tain  their  intellectual  self-respect,  or  if  they  attend 


His  Ministry  to  the  Young 


89 


from  a  sense  of  filial  obligation,  to  leave  their  in¬ 
tellectual  self-respect  with  their  umbrellas  in  the 
corridor  ?”  This  is  a  vital  problem.  The  solution 
lies  with  the  minister  who  can  bring  to  the  very 
flower  of  his  people,  the  educated  adults,  and  the 
fresh,  beautiful  life  of  cultured  young  men  and 
women  the  reality  revealed  in  the  Bible  in  such  a 
way  as  to  integrate  itself  with  the  culture  of  these 
young  people. 

5.  Helping  Those  Without  Educational  Advantages 

We  have  been  thinking  of  young  people  who  have 
the  experiences  of  school  life.  What  of  those  whose 
circumstances  prevent  their  enjoyment  of  such 
privileges  ?  Do  they  not  need  even  more  than  others 
the  same  care?  In  countless  thousands  of  cases  the 
church  not  only  must  be  the  source  of  religious  com¬ 
fort  and  help,  but  also  must  furnish  social  contacts, 
and  very  frequently  is  the  only  educational  factor 
in  their  lives.  The  very  misfortunes  that  compel 
many  to  abandon  all  hope  of  educational  opportuni¬ 
ties,  only  emphasize  more  keenly  the  need  for  such 
an  education  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  as 
the  church  and  the  church  school  can  bring.  It  is 
interesting  to  discover  that  in  some  of  these  lives  the 
hunger  for  a  real  knowledge  of  the  Bible  is  more 
keen  than  with  many  who  have  been  able  to  com¬ 
plete  the  high-school  courses  or  to  enter  colleges. 
About  all  such  lives  there  play  the  diversions  of 
leisure  hours.  Their  literary  food  comes  mostly 
from  daily  papers  and  such  periodicals  as  may  come 
to  their  homes.  Not  the  least-interesting  fact  is 
that  often  in  their  business  occupations  there  are 
conversations  about  religious  matters  and  discus- 


90 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


sions  concerning  the  meaning  of  the  Bible.  They 
hear  and  also  read  many  statements  which  are  mis¬ 
leading  and  give  them  mistaken  conceptions  of  the 
Scriptures.  Is  it  not  of  the  utmost  importance  that 
to  these  the  teaching  pastor  shall  see  that  there  is 
given,  through  every  avenue  possible,  accurate  in¬ 
struction  concerning  the  Bible?  Indeed,  the  best- 
qualified  teachers  should  be  in  charge  of  classes  of 
such  persons.  There  is  no  reason  why  they  should 
not  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  nature 
of  Biblical  literature  and  the  messages  of  the  sacred 
writings.  Any  person  of  average  intelligence  can 
easily  grasp  the  facts.  Volume  after  volume  of  most 
helpful  literature  in  Biblical  study  has  been  issued. 
Even  where  it  is  not  possible  for  persons  to  pur¬ 
chase  these  books,  well-equipped  church  schools  can 
buy  them  and  lend  them  to  the  pupils  as  is  now  done 
in  our  public  schools.  Even  public  libraries  can  be 
induced  to  place  them  on  their  shelves.  The  time  has 
long  since  passed  when  any  one  can  plead  either 
poverty  or  a  lack  of  education  as  an  excuse  for  igno¬ 
rance.  Let  us  not  forget  that  the  uneducated  should 
appeal  all  the  more  powerfully  to  the  unselfish 
motives  of  those  who  know.  Such  persons  should  be 
lifted  out  of  the  danger  of  untrue  conceptions  of  the 
Bible  and  saved  from  moral  shock  which  will  in¬ 
evitably  come,  through  the  leadership  of  those  who 
have  been  misinformed.  It  has  been  demonstrated 
beyond  doubt  that,  without  regard  to  any  school 
advantages,  the  main  facts  concerning  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  and  the  vital  truths  that  influence  life  are 
easily  appreciated  by  any  person  of  average  intelli¬ 
gence.  What  more  gracious  service  could  a  pastor 
render  than  to  gather  such  young  men  and  women 


91 


His  Ministry  to  the  Young 


into  classes  on  Sundays  or  week-nights  to  be  led  by 
thoroughly  competent  persons  whose  spirit  of  love 
will  find  keenest  joy  in  leading  them  into  the  green 
pastures  and  beside  the  still  waters  of  divine  truth? 

6.  Promoting  Educational  Evangelism 

The  teaching  pastor  will  also  promote  educational 
evangelism.8  Each  child  is  born  with  religious  as 
well  as  physical,  social,  and  intellectual  capacity. 
Adults  unfold  these  according  to  methods  and  ideals 
that  human  experience  has  attained.  Educational 
evangelism  proceeds  according  to  the  religious  ex¬ 
periences  of  the  race.  We  do  not  mean  the  mere 
imparting  of  information,  but  the  unfolding  of  the 
religious  capacity.  That  process  never  ceases.  On 
this  native  human  capacity  the  Holy  Spirit  relies 
in  all  his  appeals  to  the  human  heart,  no  matter  what 
the  avenue  of  approach  or  the  instrumentality  used. 
Upon  this  same  ability  of  the  soul  all  evangelistic 
effort  relies.  The  foreign  missionary  in  his  appeal 
to  the  savage  heart  also  depends  upon  it.  Jesus  him¬ 
self  rested  his  hope  of  reaching  his  contemporaries 
upon  the  same  essential  basis.  It  was  to  the  “  com¬ 
mon  people  ”  that  he  said,9  “  If  I  do  not  the  works 
of  my  Father,  believe  me  not.”  He  said  that  com¬ 
mon  sense  capable  of  judging  weather  signs  was 
adequate  enough  to  make  spiritual  decisions.10  He 
is  the  true  light  “  which  lights  every  man.”  11  Edu¬ 
cational  evangelism  believes  utterly  that  moral 
changes  wrought  in  human  beings  are  due  to  the 

8  See  article  by  the  writer  in  Official  Report  of  the  Sixteenth  Interna¬ 
tional  Sunday  School  Convention,  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  June  21-27, 
1922,  pp.  129-134.  Published  by  International  Sunday  School  Council 
of  Religious  Education,  Chicago,  Ill. 

9  John  10  :  37.  10  Matt.  16  :  1-3.  11  John  1  :  9. 


92 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


Spirit  of  God  brooding  over  souls.  Conversion  is 
that  experience,  gradual  or  sudden,  when  the  moral, 
religious,  and  ethical  capacities  of  a  human  being 
dominated  by  Jesus  Christ  control  all  other  capac¬ 
ities,  physical,  intellectual,  and  social,  in  all  realms 
of  life.  There  is  no  other  sort  of  conversion  worth 
thinking  about.  The  methods  of  educational  evan¬ 
gelism  are  very  simple.  They  are  the  impartation 
of  assimilable  truth,  the  expression  of  that  truth  in 
life,  and  association  with  those  who  have  had  the 
experience  of  conversion.  The  teaching  pastor  has 
his  great  opportunity  here.  More  and  more  truth 
and  the  soul  which  belong  to  each  other,  can  be 
brought  together.  There  will  come  a  time  when  the 
soul  will  yield  to  the  truth,  especially  if  the  growing 
life  of  the  young  is  taught  to  practise  so  much  of 
the  truth  as  has  been  assimilated,  and  is  surrounded 
by  others  who  likewise  live  the  spiritual  reality  they 
know.  Such  a  ministry  provided  for  in  the  conduct 
of  the  church  school  should  result  in  a  steady  influx 
of  the  young  into  the  church-membership  because  of 
the  confessions  of  faith  in  the  Christ  who  has  in¬ 
creasingly  been  brought  near  to  the  young  lives 
through  intelligent  presentation  of  his  life.  He  al¬ 
ways  draws  us  when  he  is  lifted  up.12  It  is  possible 
from  the  very  beginning  of  a  child’s  entrance  into  the 
church  school  so  to  introduce  the  pupil  to  the  great 
Teacher  that  the  desire  to  learn  from  and  to  follow 
him  will  become  growingly  strong  until  a  public 
avowal  of  discipleship  becomes  as  natural  as  the 
blooming  of  a  plant  or  the  ripening  of  fruit.  This 
ideal  should  be  the  normal  one  with  all  church 
schools,  rather  than  the  extraordinary  and  spas- 


12  John  12  :  32. 


His  Ministry  to  the  Young 


93 


modic  methods  to  which  revivalism  resorts  in  its 
appeals  to  those  who  have  not  had  such  wise  train¬ 
ing.  It  should  be  as  natural  and  easy  for  a  child 
to  go  from  a  Christian  home  and  a  properly  con¬ 
ducted  church  school  into  church-membership,  as 
for  the  moonlight  to  give  place  to  sunshine.  The 
gospel  narratives  show  us  the  progress  of  men  who 
first  became  disciples  of  the  great  Teacher,  and 
through  years  of  steady  development  became  apos¬ 
tles  and  writers  of  gospels.  Why  not  expect  the 
same  process  to  be  repeated  with  the  same  Teacher 
and  the  same  truth,  and  the  same  Holy  Spirit  to 
energize  souls  into  spiritual  life  and  progress?  In 
the  majority  of  cases  the  appeal  for  open  confession 
of  discipleship  to  Christ  will  come  to  those  in  our 
church  schools  who  have  already  surrendered  to  our 
Lord,  and  have  yielded  because  of  the  gradual  and 
steady  appeal  of  the  Master  himself  and  his  truth, 
if  educational  evangelism  has  been  pursued  in  the 
church  school.  “  Decision  Day  ”  will  not  be  choosing 
time,  but  the  opportunity  for  revealing  choices  prev¬ 
iously  made.  It  will  be  the  uncovering,  not  the 
formation,  of  “  the  will  to  believe.”  And  such 
harvests  of  confessions  may  be  expected  perennially 
rather  than  annually. 

III.  The  Forms  of  This  Ministry 

1.  Pulpit  and  Personal  Service 

What  forms  will  this  ministry  take  ?  The  methods 
which  the  teaching  pastor  can  follow  have  already 
been  generally  described. 

His  pulpit  and  personal  ministry  will  inevitably 
have  a  powerful  effect.  The  impact  of  truth  upon 


94 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


growing  life  can  be  provided  for  by  conversations 
with  the  young,  through  sermons,  and  through  the 
minister’s  attitude  toward  the  Scriptures.  A  min¬ 
ister  should  never  be  so  busy  with  the  mechanics 
and  chores  of  his  pastoral  life  that  he  cannot  take 
time  to  minister  to  individual  souls.  One  has  only 
to  recall  the  conversations  of  our  Lord  with  Nico- 
demus,  the  woman  at  the  well,  Zaccheus,  and  others 
to  be  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  privilege  of 
teaching  individual  persons.  The  best  results  are 
accomplished  in  this  way.  Dr.  Francis  Wayland 
once  said  that  preaching  to  an  audience  was  like 
swishing  a  saturated  sponge  into  the  air,  and  that 
the  most  that  could  be  hoped  for  was  that  some 
drops  of  water  would  fall  into  the  mouths  of  the 
empty  bottles  in  front  of  the  speaker.  In  conversa¬ 
tion  one  takes  the  bottle  by  the  neck  and  pours  the 
water  into  it.  There  can  be  no  greater  joy  in  the 
minister’s  life  nor  any  more  efficient  service  to  a 
soul  than  personal  teaching  concerning  the  holy  book 
and  the  things  of  life. 

2.  Control  of  Church-school  Curriculum 

The  minister  should  have  full  charge  of  directing 
the  curriculum  of  his  church  school.  If  the  school 
is  designed  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  mere  aggre¬ 
gation  of  human  bodies,  and  its  success  mostly 
measured  by  arithmetical  standards,  and  statistics 
are  to  be  the  criteria  by  which  it  is  judged,  then  of 
course  whatever  will  attract  human  beings  to  come 
will  be  used  to  promote  such  ideals.  Or  if  the  ideals 
of  the  school  are  to  be  simply  mechanical,  and  the 
pupils  are  to  be  drilled  in  catechisms  and  in  repeti¬ 
tions  of  passages  of  Scriptures  and  other  feats  of 


His  Ministry  to  the  Young 


95 


memoriter  gymnastics,  then  a  prepared  set  of  vic- 
trola  discs  as  well  as  human  beings  will  answer  for 
teachers.  But  if  the  institution  is  to  be  really  a 
school  with  educational  ideals  and  correct  pedagog¬ 
ical  methods,  then  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  the  intelligent  teaching  pastor  shall  have  gen¬ 
eral  direction  of  all  instruction  which  is  given. 
There  can  be  nothing  but  praise  for  the  devotion 
of  officers  and  teachers  who  seek  to  bring  together 
as  many  persons  as  possible  in  attendance  upon  the 
church  school.  There  is  still  higher  praise  due  to 
those  who  use  the  church  school  as  an  opportunity 
for  evangelistic  work,  who  aim  to  bring  its  members 
into  church  fellowship.  Nevertheless,  the  highest 
of  all  questions  is  not  what  is  the  roll  strength,  nor 
what  is  the  average  attendance,  nor  even  how  many 
scholars  have  joined  the  church,  but  how  far  is  the 
whole  church  engaged  in  the  study  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  and  of  divine  truth,  and  what  is  the  quality 
of  the  work  done  in  the  school.  The  church  school 
should  be  something  more  than  a  mere  recruiting 
agency  for  the  church  roll.  It  should  be  thoroughly, 
deeply  educational.  For  this  reason  the  teaching 
pastor  should  have  the  general  direction  of  its  poli¬ 
cies.  Every  one  knows  that  there  is  sore  need  here. 
Let  the  wide-awake  laymen  lead  in  administrative 
affairs,  but  when  it  comes  to  the  curriculum  of  in¬ 
struction,  if  the  pastor  be  competent,  he  should 
dominate.  He  can  rally  around  him  a  board  of 
education  composed  of  those  who  are  intelligent 
in  methods  and  ideals.  Such  an  arrangement  will 
provide  for  the  best  care  of  the  young,  and  if  right 
methods  are  adopted,  the  best  results  will  inevitably 
follow. 


96 


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3.  Supervision  of  Young  People’s  Organizations 

The  young  people’s  organization  also  affords  an 
opportunity  not  to  be  despised.  So  often  the  topics 
of  these  meetings  are  assigned  by  the  central  direc¬ 
torates  with  which  the  organizations  are  connected, 
and  they  relate  to  every  conceivable  realm  of  life. 
This  is  as  it  should  be.  Nevertheless,  all  topics 
should  be  considered  in  the  light  of  spiritual  prin¬ 
ciples  and  ideals  revealed  in  the  Scriptures.  The 
pastor  can  see  to  it  that  no  mistaken  interpretations 
of  the  Bible  are  brought  to  bear  upon  the  practical 
concerns  of  life.  Headquarters  of  denominational 
organizations  of  young  people  should  not  be  al¬ 
lowed  to  interfere  with  a  proper  development  of  any 
local  group.  As  the  minister  is  responsible  for  the 
religious  lives  of  all  the  members  of  his  flock  he 
should  have  the  general  direction  of  all  Biblical 
study  pursued  by  organizations  connected  with  the 
church.  Here  is  another  opportunity  in  dealing 
with  his  young  people.  “  I  have  no  greater  joy  than 
this,  to  hear  of  my  children  walking  in  the  truth,” 
so  said  an  old  saint.13  The  crown  of  rejoicing  in 
every  pastor’s  life  is  the  vision  of  spiritual  life  in 
those  whom  he  has  helped.14  Like  our  Lord,  we  live 
that  men  may  have  life,  and  have  it  abundantly.15 
Like  the  great  Teacher,  all  theological  teachers,  all 
school  and  college  teachers,  all  teaching  pastors  find 
their  delight  and  the  justification  of  their  lives  in  the 
characters  and  usefulness  of  those  whom  they  have 
taught. 

13  3  John  4. 

14  Phil.  4  :  1  ;  1  Thess.  2  :  19. 

15  John  10  :  10. 


LECTURE  V 


HIS  RELATION  TO  THE  PROBLEM  OF 
CHRISTIAN  UNITY 

The  Fact  of  Sectarianism 

The  ministry  of  the  teaching  pastor  has  a  vital 
relation  to  the  problem  of  Christian  unity.  Every 
devout  Christian  must  grieve  over  the  divided  state 
of  the  Christian  church.  The  body  of  Christ  has 
been  dismembered.  There  are  those  who  apologize 
for  and  defend  this  schism  as  beneficial  to  the  total 
work,  and  promoting  the  increase  of  church-mem¬ 
bers.  They  quote  Paul’s  words  1  as  justification  for 
their  opinion :  “  Some  indeed  preach  Christ  even 

of  envy  and  strife;  and  some  also  of  good  will  .  .  . 
What  then  ?  Only  that  in  every  way,  whether  in  pre¬ 
tence  or  in  truth,  Christ  is  proclaimed ;  and  therein 
I  rejoice,  yea,  and  will  rejoice.”  They  forget  that 
the  whole  passage  was  a  plea  for  unity  of  sentiment. 
Lien  try  to  frighten  believers  in  Christian  unity  by 
the  picture  of  the  difficulties  they  imagine  would 
exist  in  the  organization  and  work  of  one  vast  ag¬ 
gregation  comprising  all  Christians.  A  united 
church  could  not  be  so  wasteful  and  inefficient. 

I.  The  Harmfulness  of  Sectarianism 

1.  Inability  to  Make  United  Sentiment  Effective 

Think  of  the  inability  to  express  united  Christian 
sentiment.  Disciples  of  our  Lord  are  also  citizens 

1  Phil.  1  :  15-18. 

•  97 


98 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


of  the  countries  in  which  they  reside.  They  should 
wish  to  make  effective  in  political  life  the  ideals 
they  profess.  Their  first  obligation  is  to  Jesus 
Christ  and  the  promotion  of  his  kingdom.  What¬ 
soever  they  do,  whether  they  eat  or  drink,  work 
or  vote,  should  be  done  to  the  glory  of  God  and  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ.2  The  Christian  element  in 
a  community  or  a  country  is  now  so  divided  that  it 
has  no  way  of  expressing  itself.  In  our  own  country 
over  forty-five  millions  of  members  of  Christian 
churches  are  separated  into  Roman  Catholic  and 
Protestant  groups.  In  Romanism  there  are  modern¬ 
ists  and  ultra-montaines  and  various  other  divisions, 
unified  externally  through  the  strong  ecclesiastical 
bonds  of  hierarchy.  In  the  Protestant  world  there 
are  about  two  hundred  sects  and  insects.  Many  of 
these  are  mere  hssures  that  have  occurred  upon  the 
slightest  provocation  and  without  reasonable  justifi¬ 
cation.  In  a  certain  city  there  was  a  group  calling 
itself  “  The  Church  of  God/'  A  faction  left  and 
organized  with  the  name  “  The  True  Church  of 
God.”  Even  that  faction  did  not  find  itself  harmo¬ 
nious.  Another  cleavage  withdrew  and  organized 
itself  under  the  name  of  “  The  Only  True  Church  of 
God.”  Any  one  can  mortify  his  feelings  by  looking 
at  the  United  States  Religious  Census.  These  forty- 
five  millions  of  Christians  who  profess  to  love  God 
supremely  and  obey  Jesus  alone  and  to  love  one 
another  according  to  the  commandment  of  their 
Lord  3  have  no  way  of  uniting  their  sentiment.  This 
vast  number  of  church-members  represents  a  con¬ 
stituency  of  at  least  eighty  millions  in  the  United 
States,  but  they  have  no  way  of  making  their  united 

21  Cor.  10  :  31 ;  Col.  3  :  17.  3  John  15  :  12-17. 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  99 


sentiments  felt  in  public  life.  The  low  state  of 
Christian  life  prevailing  in  millions  of  these  hearts, 
and  the  facts  of  disorganization  and  disagreement 
hush  their  united  voice  against  the  selfish,  unchris¬ 
tian  policy  of  isolation  in  international  affairs.  The 
selection  of  Senators  and  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  is  left  to  selfish  politics.  There  is 
no  union  of  effort  to  declare  to  the  world  that  the 
Christian  church  is  against  war  and  in  favor  of 
brotherhood,  and  that  the  majority  of  the  eighty 
millions  wish  to  outlaw  legalized  murder  as  a  method 
of  settling  differences  of  opinion.  There  is  no  way 
by  which  this  Christian  sentiment  can  join  itself  to 
the  same  Jewish  sentiment  and  the  identical  opinion 
of  organized  labor  and  thus  unitedly  make  Christ’s 
ideal  of  brotherhood  felt.  If  there  were  no  other 
reason  for  lamenting  schism  in  the  body  of  Christ, 
this  alone  would  be  ample  to  bring  shame  to  the 
heart  of  every  true  Christian. 

2.  Disunion  in  Christian  Work 

There  is  also  difficulty  in  working  together  for 
the  spiritual,  educational,  and  philanthropic  enter¬ 
prises  which  Christianity  always  produces.  Is  it 
not  true  that  many  young  ministers  go  out  from 
seminaries  to  propagate  denominationalism,  that  a 
pastor  achieves  a  reputation  far  more  as  a  builder 
of  a  local  denominational  group  than  because  he 
spreads  the  power  of  vital  Christianity  and  its  min¬ 
istries  to  the  ignorant,  the  suffering,  and  the  lonely? 
Efficiency  in  propagating  sectarianism  is  too  often 
the  standard  by  which  the  success  of  a  Christian 
minister  is  judged.  The  whole  tendency  of  this 
separatism  is  toward  fruitless  selfishness. 


100 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


3.  Waste  of  Money 

All  this  brings  in  its  train  a  waste  of  money  and 
becomes  an  economic  scandal  among  those  outside 
the  churches.  Business  men  who  consider  the  rela¬ 
tion  of  expense  to  achievement  are  repelled  by  the 
over-churching  of  some  communities  and  by  the 
neglect  of  others.  If  Christians,  more  devoted  to 
the  ideals  of  Jesus  than  to  the  multiplication  of  de¬ 
nominational  statistics,  protest  against  this  waste, 
they  are  accused  of  disloyalty  to  principles,  if  not 
to  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  country  at  a  crossroad  are 
three  churches  of  different  denominations  all  closed 
because  none  of  the  three  could  be  supported  by  its 
partisans  in  the  community.  The  treasuries  of  the 
respective  denominations  with  which  this  trinity  of 
idle  temples  is  connected,  feel  that  they  are  wiser 
in  wasting  their  money  in  building  more  idle  tem¬ 
ples  than  in  using  those  already  erected.  This  is  a 
wicked  squandering  of  funds  given  in  the  name  of 
religion.  Many  city  centers  are  likewise  over¬ 
churched.  No  one  can  look  upon  the  situation  at 
which  we  have  barely  hinted  without  the  deep  con¬ 
viction  that  the  blessing  of  God  could  not  honestly 
be  asked  upon  such  sectarian  folly. 

4.  Waste  of  Ministerial  Service 

There  is  also  a  waste  of  men.  On  the  one  hand 
there  are  thousands  of  ministers  without  churches. 
On  the  other  hand,  thousands  of  churches  without 
pastors.  Ministerial  unemployment  and  ecclesias¬ 
tical  destitution  are  only  obverse  and  reverse  sides 
of  this  situation.  City  churches  within  a  few  hun¬ 
dred  yards  of  one  another  are  struggling  to  meet 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  101 


current  expenses  for  the  support  of  public  worship 
and  of  Christian  activity.  They  are  throwing  upon 
a  single  man  the  burden  of  the  pulpit,  of  pastoral 
visitation,  administration,  teaching,  and  all  other 
offices  necessary  in  connection  with  the  support  of 
the  institution.  There  are  cases  where  one  man 
discharges  every  duty  from  that  of  the  pulpit  to  the 
work  of  the  janitor.  Such  a  disgraceful  situation 
from  the  economic  view-point  is  from  the  religious 
view-point  more  than  a  scandal  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world.  In  the  case  referred  to  in  a  previous  lecture 
of  a  town  of  four  thousand  people  with  five  churches 
struggling  for  existence,  one  church  with  a  proper 
plant,  a  preacher  of  ability,  a  teaching  pastor,  and 
another  worker  would  do  more  work  for  the  regen¬ 
eration  of  men  and  women  and  the  Christianizing 
of  the  community  than  the  five  churches  combined 
have  been  able  to  do.  Sectarianism  has  robbed  com¬ 
munities  of  the  possession  of  the  multiform  ministry 
mentioned  in  the  records  of  the  early  church. 

5.  Impression  on  Non-Christians 

Perhaps  saddest  of  all  is  the  impression  made 
upon  the  outside  world  by  the  unseemly  spectacle 
of  denominational  rivalries.  Those  who  are  not 
church-members  are  perplexed  over  the  clashes  of 
dogmas,  battles  of  creeds,  contentions  concerning 
rites  and  ceremonies,  the  arrogance  of  different 
ecclesiasticisms,  and  the  undignified  and  unbecoming 
methods  resorted  to  in  the  name  of  the  glorious 
Christ  to  secure  adherents  to  the  various  groups. 
Some  pulpits  are  shut  against  ministers  of  other 
groups.  Pipe-line  theories  of  charismatic  grace 
through  digital  contacts,  assumptions  of  orthodoxy 


102 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


that  banish  to  the  deserts  of  heterodoxy  all  who  do 
not  subscribe  to  dotting  of  i’s  and  crossing  of  t’s, 
have  exiled  worthy  and  powerful  preachers  from  a 
few  square  yards  of  pulpit  platform  in  the  posses¬ 
sion  of  those  who  cherish  such  assumptions.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  when  Christ  affirmed  that  all  the 
law  and  the  commandments  and  the  very  essence  of 
the  life  that  he  came  to  give  to  the  world,  were 
summed  up  in  the  loving  God  with  all  the  powers  of 
personality  and  loving  our  neighbors  as  ourselves,4 
his  teaching  stands  discredited  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world  by  these  consequences  of  disintegration? 

6.  Confusion  in  Foreign  Mission  Work 

And  what  of  the  impact  of  Christianity  against 
the  darkness  of  paganism  ?  The  “  heathen  ”  know 
nothing  of  and  care  less  for  the  historical  and  per¬ 
sonal  reasons  which  have  produced  sectarianism  in 
the  church.  They  are  met  by  the  jangling,  dis¬ 
cordant  voices  of  the  apostles  who  propagate  schism. 
Underneath  all  this  is  the  absurd  assumption  that 
each  sect  has  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth.  The  perplexity  of  an  African  or  a 
Chinaman  over  this  entire  situation  can  hardly  even 
be  imagined  by  those  of  us  who  have  been  born  into 
this  tangled  theological  and  ecclesiastical  jungle. 

II.  Conditions  Demanding  Teaching  Pastors 

1.  Each  Sect  Appeals  to  the  Bible 

What  has  the  teaching  pastor  to  do  with  all  this? 
Much  every  way,  for  every  schism  claims  Biblical 
reason  for  its  existence.  Each  claims  that  loyalty 

*  Mark  12  :  28-34  ;  Matt.  22  :  34-39  ;  Luke  10  :  25-28. 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  103 


to  the  Scriptures  compels  isolation,  and  authorizes 
the  building  of  middle  walls  of  partitions  and  the 
theological  and  ecclesiastical  manufacture  of  barbed- 
wire  fences  to  keep  its  adherents  in  and  to  keep  out 
all  others  who  do  not  agree  with  its  peculiar  Biblical 
interpretations.  This  is  not  the  least  melancholy 
aspect  of  the  entire  situation.  We  print  more  Bibles 
than  any  other  book,  sing  about  it  in  our  hymns, 
declaim  about  it  in  our  pulpits,  translate  it  into  more 
languages  than  any  other  literature,  and  fight  over 
it  more  than  over  any  other  volume.  We  do  every¬ 
thing  with  the  Bible  and  for  it  except  to  live  its 
holy  truths  as  really  intelligent  study  reveals  them 
to  us. 

2.  Love  and  Scholarship  the  Solution  of  the  Problem 

There  are  two  solutions  for  the  problem  and  only 
two.  One  is  moral,  and  the  other  is  intellectual. 
The  spiritual  solution  is  the  enthronement  of  love 
in  the  hearts  of  all  believers.  The  other  solution  is 
to  be  made  by  Christian  scholarship.  This  contri¬ 
bution  is  always  slow  in  filtering  itself  through  the 
prejudices  of  men.  The  traditional  creedal  and 
ceremonial  vessels  have  been  glazed  by  centuries  of 
handling  by  hierarchies,  and  established  usages  of 
denominations.  Christian  scholarship  is  also  slow 
in  reaching  the  minds  of  those  who  surrender  them¬ 
selves  to  fantastic  conceptions,  who  are  willing  dis¬ 
ciples  of  grotesque  notions,  and  who  so  exalt  eccen¬ 
tricities  that  idiosyncrasies  seem  to  be  the  most 
desirable  things  in  religion.  Any  hope  of  healing  the 
schisms  in  the  body  of  Christ  lies  with  these  two 
agencies  of  Christian  love  and  Christian  scholarship. 
With  them  in  control  all  financial  waste  would  take 


104 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


care  of  itself  and  the  church  would  use  its  man 
power  intelligently.  The  ministry  would  assume 
a  more  dignified  place  in  the  minds  of  the  thinking 
elements  of  a  community,  and  church  work  would 
appeal  to  business  men  who  enthrone  common  sense 
in  their  methods. 

3.  The  Pastors  Are  Leaders  of  Their  Groups 

The  pastors  are  the  leaders,  the  keys  to  the  situa¬ 
tion.  They  not  only  preach  the  vitalities  of  religious 
experience  but  also  propagate  the  various  dogmas 
and  usages  that  divide  the  church.  Appeals  from 
propagating  denominational  organizations  come 
through  the  pastor.  Ostensibly  the  prime  considera¬ 
tion  of  these  appeals  is  loyalty  to  Christ  and  the 
bringing  of  men  into  discipleship  to  him  and  the 
Christianizing  of  social  relations.  But  a  loud  under¬ 
tone  is  the  thought  of  denominational  increase.  We 
worship  the  great  god  Statistics,  whose  standards 
are  mathematical.  We  judge  the  growth  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  by  the  number  of  nominal  adherents  secured, 
and  the  number  of  church  buildings  erected.  We  do 
not  emphasize  the  development  of  personal  charac¬ 
ter,  nor  the  degree  to  which  we  have  Christianized 
business,  recreations,  social  life,  and  politics.  The 
call  to  the  pastor  is  that  of  fidelity  to  the  denomi¬ 
national  group  and  its  enterprises.  To  make  this 
importunity  more  powerful  it  is  often  clothed  in 
garments  of  orthodoxy  that  would  force  a  man  either 
to  wear  a  conventional  dogmatic  costume,  or  go 
naked,  or  else  identify  himself  with  some  other 
ecclesiastical  haberdashery.  Precisely  because  the 
pastor  is  the  acknowledged  key  to  the  situation,  his 
opportunity  is  unique.  Both  in  his  local  church  and 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  105 


as  a  member  of  the  general  bodies  with  which  his 
church  is  connected,  he  can  make  his  voice  felt  and 
can  bring  to  bear  upon  conditions  the  contribution 
of  Christian  love  for  all  men  and  sound  scholarship 
concerning  the  Scriptures.  So  long  as  churches  are 
led  by  ministers  who  think  they  have  been  sent  out 
to  propagate  ready-made  sectarian  ideals  rather 
than  to  lead  people  into  the  glorious  privilege  of 
sharing  the  very  life  of  Christ,  we  shall  have  the 
existing  conditions.  So  long  as  the  members  of 
churches  are  not  led  into  the  genuine  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures  and  educational  processes  are  held 
in  abeyance,  just  so  long  will  the  uninformed  be  con¬ 
tent  with  the  ministry  that  confirms  existing  notions, 
intensifies  ecclesiastical  narrowness,  and  stimulates 
enthusiasm  for  partisanship.  The  beginnings  of 
sectarianism  cropped  out  in  Corinth.5  No  one  can 
fail  to  feel  the  wideness  of  our  Christian  possessions 
when  he  reads  the  glorious  statement  that  all  things 
are  ours : 6  “  Whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas, 
or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or 
things  to  come:  all  are  yours;  and  ye  are  Christ’s; 
and  Christ  is  God’s.”  Certainly  Paul’s  attitude  as 
the  founder  and  pastor  of  the  church  at  Corinth  did 
not  favor  division  of  that  group. 

4.  Varieties  of  Biblical  Interpretation 

The  teaching  pastor  has  a  vital  relation  to  this 
situation  because  of  varieties  of  Biblical  interpreta¬ 
tion.  If  there  be  anything  beyond  question,  it  is 
that  this  one  common  basis  was  not  produced  with  a 
multitude  of  meanings.  A  sane  man  in  writing  has 

51  Cor.  1  :  11-17;  2  :  3-9. 

fll  Cor.  3  :  22,  23. 


106 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


one  single,  definite,  clear-cut  meaning  in  his  words. 
When  he  is  writing  about  religion  the  vital  issues 
involved  would  prevent  him  from  deliberately  writ¬ 
ing  ambiguously.  Double  meanings  to  Scripture  are 
unthinkable.  It  may  be  granted  that  no  Biblical 
writer  could  realize  the  full,  far-reaching  import  of 
any  utterance,  since  none  can  ever  foresee  all  the 
applications  of  a  principle  which  he  enunciates. 
That,  however,  is  not  to  say  that  a  Biblical  writer 
did  not  understand  his  own  words  or  purposely 
meant  them  to  be  construed  in  a  double  sense.  More¬ 
over,  if  to  these  two  ethical  canons  of  writing  and 
speaking  we  should  add  convictions  of  guidance  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  the  case  is  all  the  stronger.  Did 
God  trifle  with  human  intelligence?  Did  he  ever 
mean  when  he  spoke  through  prophet  or  apostle 
that  his  message  should  be  capable  of  more  than  one 
interpretation?  Did  the  divine  plan  purpose  that 
heaven’s  illumination  of  human  ignorance  should  be 
doubtful,  that  light  should  be  confused,  that  the  lamp 
to  our  feet  should  tantalize  us  by  indefiniteness  and 
uncertainty?  On  any  theory  of  inspiration,  whether 
dynamic  or  verbal,  none  can  assume  that  God  meant 
two  things,  talked  two  ways,  and  intended  to  justify 
opposite  theories  about  himself  or  about  our  rela¬ 
tions  to  him  or  to  one  another.  To  make  such  an 
assumption  is  to  dethrone  the  Scriptures  as  author¬ 
ity,  to  accuse  the  Almighty  of  duplicity,  of  intel¬ 
lectual  insincerity,  and  of  trifling  with  the  highest 
interests  of  his  creatures.  The  teaching  pastor  will 
insist  upon  these  things  and  will  do  his  best  to  dis¬ 
cover  precisely  the  significance  of  any  Scripture, 
and  also  to  test  it  by  the  revelation  of  God  in  Jesus 
Christ  which  likewise  will  be  sought  in  the  most 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  107 


honest  spirit  and  method  possible.  Into  such  an 
attitude  he  will  conduct  his  followers.  The  very 
word  “  rule  ”  in  the  expression  “  the  Bible  is  our 
rule  of  faith  and  practise  ”  is  misleading.  The 
Scriptures  are  not  a  collection  of  rules.  That  mis¬ 
take  the  unthinking  have  made.  It  is  a  literature 
which  records  life,  and  in  the  life  thus  recorded 
there  are  revealed  principles,  axiomatic,  self-evident 
spiritual  ideals  according  to  which  God  would  have 
men  live.  In  the  use  of  the  Bible  for  guidance  in 
Christian  living  and  thinking  there  are  three  ele¬ 
ments  to  be  considered :  First,  the  conditions  of  life 
at  the  time  when  the  Scriptures  were  produced; 
second,  the  principles  involved  in  those  conditions 
discovered  by  honest,  intelligent  study;  and  third, 
the  specific  rule  which  comes  from  the  application 
of  the  principle  to  the  conditions.  Rules  are  the 
children  of  the  marriage  of  principles  to  conditions. 
Principles  are  eternal,  self-evident  and  axiomatic. 
Rules  vary  as  conditions  change.  For  instance,  this 
is  the  Lenten  season.  Jesus  told  people  when  they 
fasted  to  anoint  their  hair  with  oil.7  That  was  his 
rule.  It  is  violated  today  throughout  Christendom 
by  all  who  observe  Lent.  Hair-oil  is  not  specially 
used  among  certain  Christians  during  Lent  nor  on 
Fridays.  Customs  have  changed.  The  principle 
was  that  ye  “  appear  not  unto  men  to  fast.”  If  we 
observed  the  rule  now  we  would  violate  the  principle. 
A  principle  can  be  applied  to  many  other  situations 
than  that  out  of  which  its  statement  came.  Jesus’ 
ideal  that  personal  religious  exercises  were  not  mat¬ 
ters  of  advertisement  is  applicable  to  many  things 
other  than  fasting.8  The  same  intelligence  in  the 

7  Matt.  6  :  16-18.  » Matt.  6  :  1-7. 


108 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


use  of  the  Bible  will  not  send  us  to  it  for  “  rules.” 
We  shall  seek  for  the  eternal  principles  of  righteous 
living,  as  good  in  one  generation  as  in  another.  We 
shall  emancipate  ourselves  from  the  mechanical  atti¬ 
tude  that  turns  the  Scriptures  into  a  manual  of 
religious  etiquette.  It  is  precisely  because  of  unin¬ 
telligent  teaching  in  the  pulpit  that  some  denomi¬ 
nations  exist  and  put  a  “  Thus  saith  the  Lord  ”  be¬ 
hind  their  mistaken  conceptions  of  the  teachings  of 
the  Bible. 

5.  Influence  of  Dogmatic  Prepossessions 

Another  cause  for  divisions  among  Christians  is 
dogmatic  prepossession.  This  is  especially  true  of 
denominations  that  have  historic  creeds,  to  which 
perpetual  adherence  is  demanded.  The  Russian 
Church  which  arrogates  to  itself  the  title  “  Ortho¬ 
dox,”  boasts  that  through  the  centuries  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  era  it  has  never  changed  an  iota  of  its  creed. 
More  or  less  of  this  pride  of  consistency  and  tenacity 
is  in  the  minds  of  those  who  rest  upon  historic  state¬ 
ments  of  faith.  “  Orthodoxy  ”  in  the  sense  of  right 
thinking  is  to  be  commended,  but  there  must  be  no 
tolerance  for  the  assumption  that  the  only  straight 
thinking  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  church  has 
been  done  by  those  who  lived  centuries  or  millen¬ 
niums  ago.  The  youngest  of  our  great  creeds,  the 
Westminster  Confession,  was  published  in  1646, 
about  a  generation  after  King  James’  Version  of 
the  Bible  was  issued  in  1611.  More  interesting  yet 
is  the  fact  that  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  born  in  1642. 
The  discoverer  of  the  law  of  gravitation  and  the 
author  of  the  Principia  was  a  boy  four  years  old 
when  the  Westminster  Confession  was  adopted. 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  109 


Modern  science  had  not  begun  when  the  youngest 
of  the  great  confessions  of  Christendom  appeared. 
The  history  of  symbolics  is  forced  to  face  this  fact. 
The  birth  of  Newton  and  the  publication  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  were  practically  synchron¬ 
ous.  Since  then  the  whole  field  of  human  thought 
has  changed,  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  have 
appeared,  the  scientific  age  has  come  with  its  new 
knowledge  of  the  physical  universe,  a  new  concep¬ 
tion  of  the  history  of  man,  a  new  anthropology. 
Archeology  as  now  understood  was  not  in  existence 
at  the  time  this  confession  of  faith  was  made.  One 
has  only  to  compare  the  knowledge  of  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century  with  that  of  the  twen¬ 
tieth  to  see  how  methods  and  view-points  have  all 
been  changed.  Since  God  reveals  himself  through 
creation  and  human  life,  we  are  forced  to  say,  not 
that  God  has  changed,  but  that  our  conceptions  of 
him  have  become  larger  and  vaster.  In  the  face  of 
all  this  shall  the  pastor  ignore  the  light  that  has 
come  upon  the  Scriptures?  Moreover,  archeology 
and  lexicography  have  made  marvelous  advances 
since  that  confession  was  formed.  Today  we  make 
dictionaries  and  grammars  of  New  Testament  Greek 
in  the  light  of  thousands  of  papyri,  ostrica,  and 
monuments  which  reveal  to  us  the  koine,  or  the 
ordinary  colloquial  language  of  the  first  century, 
which  is  the  language  in  which  our  New  Testament 
was  written.  The  space  of  this  lecture  does  not 
permit  even  one  illustration  of  the  effect  of  this  new 
knowledge  upon  New  Testament  lexicography  or 
grammar  or  interpretation.  Archeology  is  throw¬ 
ing  vast  light  upon  both  New  Testament  and  Old 
Testament  history  out  of  which  the  literature  grew, 


110 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


and  the  end  is  not  yet.  When  Casper  Rene  Gregory 
was  last  in  this  country,  he  told  the  writer  that  he 
was  then  gathering  a  staff  of  workers  for  a  new 
lexicon  of  New  Testament  Greek.  Alas,  that  he 
lost  his  life  in  the  World  War!  In  the  face  of  these 
and  many  other  facts  which  cannot  be  recited  here, 
how  preposterous  it  is  for  men  to  buttress  denomi¬ 
national  existence  by  a  creed  which  was  published 
in  an  unscientific  age  before  the  world  had  received 
the  means  for  such  a  study  of  the  Scriptures  as  we 
now  possess.  If  the  question  be  put  to  a  sincere 
pastor,  who  desires  to  teach  his  people  the  truth 
and  only  the  truth,  whether  he  shall  cling  to  a  tradi¬ 
tional  creed  and  propagate  its  conceptions,  or 
whether  he  shall  do  the  questionably  ethical  thing 
of  using  that  creed  with  a  loose  interpretation,  of 
which  the  framers  of  the  creed  never  dreamed,  or 
whether  he  shall  cut  loose  from  the  creed  and  give 
the  people  the  truth  as  God  has  revealed  it  to  him 
in  the  providential  revelations  that  have  come 
through  the  increase  of  human  knowledge,  there 
can  be  but  one  answer  for  an  honest  man.  But  in 
asking  this  question  we  have  struck  at  the  root  of 
denominationalism  so  far  as  it  rests  upon  dogmatic 
prepossessions.  Why  should  the  men  of  today,  richly 
blessed  indeed  by  what  the  men  of  yesterday  per¬ 
ceived,  and  enriched  by  the  legacies  of  their  Chris¬ 
tian  lives,  be  content  to  think  that  the  same  God  who 
revealed  light  to  their  ecclesiastical  and  theological 
ancestors  has  stopped  the  shedding  of  light?  Today 
with  our  advantages  the  obligation  should  be  greater 
than  upon  any  previous  generation.  Of  this  increased 
opulence  the  teaching  pastor  should  make  as  abun¬ 
dant  use  as  his  opportunities  will  allow.  After  all, 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  111 


what  is  the  preservation  of  a  creed,  or  as  Baptists 
call  it,  a  “  confession  of  faith,”  compared  with  the 
understanding  of  the  truth  of  God?  Every  genera¬ 
tion  should  try  to  learn  the  will  of  God  more  per¬ 
fectly.  We  have  the  best  Biblical  example  for  this.9 
From  vows  of  loyalty  to  past  confessions  of  faith 
made  by  fallible  men  like  ourselves  but  not  endowed 
with  light  as  great  as  we  possess,  God  has  absolved 
every  man  by  the  very  increased  illumination  he  has 
sent.  The  function  of  a  teaching  pastor  is  not  to 
indoctrinate  his  people  with  bygone  statements  of 
faith  which  a  growing  world  has  left  behind,  but 
to  lead  men  into  the  vital  truth.  Here  is  a  vast 
contribution  which  Christian  scholarship  incarnated 
in  the  teaching  pastor  can  make  to  the  vital  problem 
of  Christian  union. 

6.  Bondage  to  Historical  and  Hereditary  Accidents 

Where  denominational  divisions  shelter  them¬ 
selves  under  great  names,  or  temperamental  pecu¬ 
liarities,  or  temporary  historical  considerations,  the 
teaching  pastor  will  lead  people  to  see  that  the  pos¬ 
session  of  spiritual  reality  is  above  all  other  con¬ 
siderations.  We  may  well  thank  God  for  the  great 
men  who  had  the  courage  to  stand  against  what 
they  conceived  to  be  invasions  of  religious  rights 
and  also  impositions  upon  their  freedom.  We  may 
give  due  credit  to  historical  conditions  that  at  the 
time  made  protest  necessary.  A  retrospect  of 
church  history  will  reveal  the  large  part  that  Chris¬ 
tian  men  have  had  in  religious  movements.  Far 
be  it  from  us  to  minimize  their  heroic  functions. 
Yet  in  the  light  of  the  newer  day  and  the  develop- 

9  Acts  IS  :  26;  19  :  1-5. 


112 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


ments  of  the  years  it  ought  to  be  easy  to  review 
their  contentions.  The  discouraging  thing  that 
meets  the  teaching  pastor  is  the  frequency  with 
which  these  men  are  quoted  as  if  their  utterances 
justified  the  perpetuation  of  divisions,  the  historical 
reasons  for  which  have  long  since  ceased.  Even 
their  conceptions  of  the  Bible  are  not  necessarily 
infallible.  They  are  subject  to  review,  and  in  the 
spirit  of  consideration  and  appreciation  should  be 
fearlessly  examined  by  men  today.  If  their  conten¬ 
tions  will  not  stand  the  test  of  modern  Biblical  study, 
then  they  should  be  surrendered  as  authoritative, 
no  matter  how  interesting  they  might  be  historically. 
If  on  the  other  hand  the  things  for  which  they 
stood  prove  to  be  of  eternal  value,  there  is  no  reason 
why  these  things  should  not  be  joined  with  others 
of  like  value  stated  by  other  persons.  No  reality 
can  ever  be  inconsistent  with  any  other  reality. 
Truth  is  one.  The  nearer  we  approach  to  reality, 
the  nearer  we  come  to  one  another.  Where  denomi¬ 
national  divisions  are  temperamental,  the  problem 
is  somewhat  keener.  Many  whose  esthetic  sense 
is  highly  cultured  wish  to  worship  God  in  ways  that 
commend  themselves  to  refined  souls.  They  should 
not  be  denied  that  privilege.  Worship  is  a  function 
of  the  esthetic  faculty,  the  perception  of  the  worth- 
ship  of  God.  “  One  thing  have  I  asked  of  Jehovah, 
that  will  I  seek  after ;  that  I  may  dwell  in  the  house 
of  Jehovah  all  the  days  of  my  life,  to  behold  the 
beauty  of  Jehovah,  and  to  inquire  in  his  temple.”10 
Whoever  gave  expression  to  that  desire  wanted  to 
bring  both  his  esthetic  sense  and  his  interrogation- 
mark  into  the  place  of  worship.  There  is  no  reason 

10  Ps.  27  :  4. 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  113 


why  they  should  not  be  brought  there  together. 
How  many  times  the  ugly  barrenness  of  a  church 
service  has  offended  the  sense  of  the  beautiful.  How 
many  times  the  dogmatism  of  a  church  or  its 
preacher  has  prevented  the  entrance  of  the  interro¬ 
gation-mark  into  the  house  of  the  Lord.  There  is  no 
reason  why  denominational  divisions  should  be 
based  upon  these  lines,  why  one  group  should  em¬ 
phasize  whatever  is  beautiful  in  worship,  and  an¬ 
other  should  emphasize  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry, 
and  neither  should  have  communion  with  the  other. 
Often  sectarian  feeling  is  hereditary.  Denomina¬ 
tional  labels  have  been  handed  down  as  heirlooms. 
In  many  cases  those  who  wear  these  labels  are  like 
certain  hybrid  animals  without  pride  of  ancestry 
or  hope  of  posterity.  Hereditary  ecclesiasticism  is 
seldom  based  upon  conviction.  What  is  the  teach¬ 
ing  pastor  to  do  in  all  these  cases?  Surely  he  will 
be  able  to  show  from  the  Scriptures  that  the  per¬ 
ception  of  the  worthship  of  God  is  the  essence  of 
worship,  that  the  Christ  turned  away  no  questioner 
from  his  illumination  but  welcomed  all  inquiries, 
and  that  so  far  as  purely  hereditary  ecclesiasticism 
is  concerned,  God  is  able  out  of  stones  to  raise  up 
children  unto  Abraham.11  The  teacher  using  the 
historical  method  will  at  least  show  his  people  the 
essential  truth  that  God  is  worshipped  both  in  Jeru¬ 
salem  and  in  Gerizim,  and  that  neither  shrine  can 
monopolize  adoration,  that  what  God  seeks  is  com¬ 
munion  of  our  spirits  with  his  based  upon  reality.12 
If  the  teaching  pastor  will  exalt  Jesus’  idea  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  get  his  people  to  see  that 

11  Matt.  3  :  9. 

12  John  4  :  20-24. 


114 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


churches  exist  to  realize  this  matchless  dream  of  our 
Lord  of  a  state  of  human  society  characterized  by 
freedom  in  thinking  and  in  conduct  (unregulated 
by  the  devices  of  legalism),  by  righteousness  in 
character  and  in  relations  with  others,  and  by  love 
expressing  itself  in  service  even  to  the  degree  of 
sacrifice,  he  will  do  much  to  take  away  the  pride 
that  many  feel  in  belonging  to  groups  that  exalt 
minor  considerations.  The  kingdom  of  God  as 
dreamed  of  by  Jesus  was  human  society  without 
regard  to  race  or  geography  in  which  every  person 
lives  like  a  child  of  the  heavenly  Father,  and  there¬ 
fore  all  live  together  as  God's  human  family.  The 
church  is  supposed  to  consist  of  those  who  appre¬ 
ciate  and  practise  this  ideal  of  Jesus,  who  through 
Christian  social  instinct  have  banded  themselves  to¬ 
gether  to  promote  this  ideal  throughout  the  world. 
In  the  face  of  this  conception,  the  trifles  that  divide 
Christian  people  appear  insignificant.  The  pastor 
who  understands  his  Bible,  and  who  will  show  the 
evolution  from  the  narrowness  of  Judaism  through 
the  wide  views  of  the  noblest  Old  Testament  proph¬ 
ets  13  to  the  perfect  teaching  of  our  Lord  14  and  the 
vision  of  the  new  humanity  expressed  by  Paul,15 
will  do  more  to  destroy  the  blight  of  crass  sectari¬ 
anism  than  all  the  polemics  in  the  world  can  accom¬ 
plish. 

7.  Failure  of  All  Other  Plans  for  Union 

The  failure  of  all  other  devices  to  promote  Chris¬ 
tian  unity  drives  us  back  upon  education.  There 

18  Isa.  19  :  23-25  ;  42  :  1-4. 

14  Matt.  8:11;  Luke  13  :  29. 

13  Col.  3  :  11. 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  115 


have  been  conferences  to  see  how  people  could  get 
together.  The  world  is  still  studying  the  recent 
appeal  of  Bishops  of  the  Anglican  Church.  A  Con¬ 
ference  on  Faith  and  Order  is  facing  Christendom. 
In  it  there  will  come  up  for  discussion  confessional 
matters;  comparisons  of  creeds,  and  possibly  the 
effort  to  construct  some  new  confession  of  faith, 
or  obtain  adherence  to  one  that  already  exists.  There 
will  also  be  presented  views  of  “  ordination  ”  and  of 
ecclesiasticism.  All  differences  of  opinion  that  will 
be  presented  on  these  matters  will  be  historical 
and  will  be  based  upon  various  methods  of  Biblical 
study.  One  of  three  things  is  possible:  The  yield¬ 
ing  of  some  to  others;  or,  amalgamation  of  all  in 
some  great  inclusive  movement;  or,  one  more  in¬ 
stance  of  compromise  to  be  put  alongside  of  many 
that  church  history  records.  How  much  better  it 
would  be  if  the  sane  scholarship  of  the  world  would 
set  itself  afresh  to  study  all  mooted  questions  in  the 
spirit  of  love  and  of  absolute  intellectual  honesty 
emancipated  from  preconceptions  and  historical  con¬ 
siderations,  and  seek  to  discover  just  what  are  the 
principles  that  the  Bible  which  is  “  the  rule  of  faith 
and  practise  ”  intended  men  to  believe  and  live. 
Even  this  would  raise  a  question.  No  one  can  study 
the  New  Testament  intelligently  without  discovering 
that  the  early  church  believed  that  Jesus  himself 
would  soon  return  to  the  earth  and  establish  a  Mes¬ 
sianic  era.  Paul’s  letters  reveal  this  hope  in  very 
intense  forms.  So  consuming  was  it  that  the  church 
did  not  make  creeds,  nor  establish  governments,  nor 
erect  edifices,  nor  concern  itself  with  social  reforms, 
such  as  abolition  of  slavery,  intemperance,  and  in¬ 
dustrial  injustice.  These  matters  are  virtually  ig- 


116 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


nored  except  as  general  principles  of  Christian  life 
are  stated  in  the  light  of  which  men  were  to  live. 
Paul  advised  against  marriage  because  the  time  was 
short.10  He  told  slaves  not  to  seek  their  freedom, 
but  to  abide  in  the  calling  where  they  were.17  He 
sent  Onesimus  back  to  Philemon.  He  declared  that 
the  Lord’s  Supper  was  intended  to  show  forth  the 
death  of  Jesus  until  he  returned,18  and  in  the  same 
letter  that  contains  that  statement  said  that  the 
Lord  was  at  hand.19  Have  we  not  made  permanent 
things  which  the  early  church  considered  transient 
and  temporary,  and  then  divided  ourselves  into 
segments  by  mistaken  interpretations  of  a  litera¬ 
ture  the  very  existence  of  which  was  due  to  the 
disappointment  of  the  early  church  in  its  expecta¬ 
tion  of  the  speedy  return  of  Jesus  to  the  world? 
Had  he  returned  when  the  early  church  expected 
him,  would  we  have  had  a  New  Testament?  Would 
the  communion  have  existed  to  the  present  day? 
What  would  have  been  the  course  of  church  history 
had  this  expectation  been  satisfied?  We  are  not 
discussing  the  origin  of  this  hope,  but  simply  the 
patent  fact  that  it  was  disappointed,  and  that  be¬ 
cause  of  this  disappointment  many  things  have 
arisen  that  are  now  contributing  to  our  divisions. 
The  teaching  pastor  who  studies  his  New  Testament 
historically  and  seeks  to  account  for  the  very  litera¬ 
ture  he  is  studying  and  for  specific  utterances  it 
contains,  will  so  educate  his  people  that  they  will  be 
immune  against  many  things  that  today  perplex 
Christendom  because  we  have  been  lacking  in  teach- 

16 1  Cor.  7  :  7-9,  27,  29,  32-34,  38-40. 

17 1  Cor.  7  :  20,  21. 

18 1  Cor.  11  :  26. 

19 1  Cor.  1G  :  22,  Mciranatha. 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  117 


ing  pastors.  We  have  tried  all  other  methods  to 
promote  unity.  Is  it  not  time  to  try  this  method 
which  should  suggest  itself  to  every  lover  of  the 
Bible  as  the  easiest  way  to  a  solution  of  differences 
among  all  those  who  claim  to  appeal  to  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  as  the  authority  for  their  separation  from 
their  fellow  Christians? 

III.  The  Specific  Contributions  of  the  Teaching 

Pastor 

1.  Leadership  in  Sane  Bible  Study 

He  can  lead  into  sane  Bible  study,  and  strenuously 
insist  that  for  any  passage  of  Scripture  there  can 
be  but  one  meaning,  that  'which  was  in  the  mind 
of  the  writer  or  speaker,  and  make  honest  effort  to 
find  out  precisely  what  that  meaning  was.  How 
gross  the  departure  from  this  simple,  ethical, 
axiomatic  canon  of  interpretation  can  be  will  be 
seen  by  a  glance  at  “  Science  and  Health ;  A  Key  to 
the  Scriptures Think  of  this ! 

The  name  Adam  is  from  the  Hebrew  adamah,  signifying 
the  red  color  of  the  ground,  dust,  nothingness.  The  word 
Adam  should  be  regarded  as  identical  with  the  Latin 
daemon .20  Originally  demons  were  not  always  considered 
as  evil  beings,  but  as  partly  good,  though  now  the  word  is 
used  exclusively  of  harmful  and  mischievous  spirits — some¬ 
what  in  this  way  ought  Adam  to  be  thought  of:  as  a  dam, 
an  obstructionist,  as  error  opposed  to  Truth.21 

All  adjectives  are  defied  by  the  grotesqueness  of  this 
glossary. 

20  O  ye  shades  of  philology  ! 

21  “  Science  and  Health,”  Twenty-first  Edition,  1886,  p.  381,  par.  xvii. 


118 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


Eve.  A  beginning;  mortality;  that  which  does  not  last 
forever;  a  finite  belief  concerning  life,  substance,  and  in¬ 
telligence  in  matter;  error;  the  belief  that  the  human  race 
originated  materially  instead  of  spiritually,  that  man  started 
firstly  from  dust,  secondly  from  a  rib,  and  thirdly  from  an 
egg,  self-imposed  folly  and  its  consequences.22 

That  may  be  a  dazzling  appeal  to  those  who  are  igno¬ 
rant  of  the  real  nature  of  Scripture.  If  such  non¬ 
sense  could  be  accepted,  it  will  only  confirm  in  deeper 
ignorance  than  they  had  before  those  who  show  it 
hospitality.  This  is  only  an  extreme  illustration,  but 
there  have  been  many  interpretations  of  the  Bible 
outside  of  “  Christian  Science  ”  that  will  approach 
these  in  absurdity.  Anything  else  than  honest,  pains¬ 
taking  effort  to  discover  the  meaning  of  Scripture 
will  inevitably  plunge  those  who  profess  to  love  the 
Bible  into  all  kinds  of  variations  of  opinion,  many  of 
them  unspeakably  absurd.  Swedenborg’s  “  corre- 
spondential  interpretation  ”  could  furnish  instances. 
The  open  mind,  the  spirit  willing  to  surrender  all  mis¬ 
conceptions  and  to  admit  all  light,  is  the  primary 
consideration.  When  a  scholarly,  ethical,  and  spiri¬ 
tual  attitude  exists  in  the  pastors  and  can  be  im¬ 
planted  in  the  mind  of  followers,  then  researches 
as  to  faith,  ecclesiasticism,  dogma,  and  the  meaning 
of  words  will  bring  forth  essential  unity  and  har¬ 
mony. 

2.  Moral  Courage  in  Facing  Truth 

Teaching  pastors  can  show  and  inculcate  moral 
courage  in  facing  the  truth  without  regard  to  con- 


22  From  Glossary  to  “  Science  and  Health,  A  Key  to  the  Scriptures,” 
Twenty-first  Edition  Revised,  1886.  In  the  Edition  published  in  1916, 
in  English  and  German,  Eve  was  mercifully  spared  the  burden  of 
“  self-imposed  folly  and  its  consequences  ”  by  the  omission  of  that  clause. 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  119 


sequence.  Whatever  may  have  been  believed  will 
be  cheerfully  surrendered  if  the  discovery  of  reality 
compels  it.  Paul  counted  as  refuse  the  things  that 
formerly  were  gain  to  him  that  he  might  win  Christ 
and  be  found  in  him.23  How  splendid  a  vision  it  is 
to  see  that  the  Bible  is  the  literary  record  of  spiritual 
experiences  in  the  great  laboratory  of  life,  that  in 
this  literature  men  tell  what  they  saw  of  God,  that 
they  hand  over  to  us  the  apparatus  they  used  in 
their  observations,  and  say :  “  Here  are  the  instru¬ 
ments  we  used  and  the  discoveries  we  made.  Take 
our  apparatus,  verify  our  discoveries,  try  to  add  to 
our  knowledge,  complete  our  partial  visions,  correct 
our  mistaken  conceptions,  and  if  perchance  you  can 
add  to  the  apparatus  we  used,  do  not  hesitate  to  do 
so,  for  the  knowledge  God  is  eternal  life,24  and  we 
desire  not  to  prevent  your  own  effort  to  know  God 
nor  to  halt  your  energies  by  our  discoveries,  but  to 
stimulate  you  to  know  for  yourself  and  to  enlarge  if 
possible  what  we  have  found.” 

3.  Emphasis  Upon  Life  Above  Literature 

After  all,  the  teaching  pastor  will  place  his  em¬ 
phasis  upon  life  and  not  upon  literature.  He  will 
use  the  literature  as  the  vehicle  for  the  discovery 
of  life.  Jesus  declared  that  life  can  come  only  from 
life.  He  told  25  the  theologians  of  his  day:  “  You 
are  searching  the  Scriptures,  for  in  them  you  think 
you  find  eternal  life,  but  you  are  mistaken.  Life  is 
not  in  literature,  but  only  from  life.  The  Scrip¬ 
tures  testify  concerning  me,  and  ye  will  not  come  to 

23  Phil.  3  :  8. 

24  John  17  :  3. 

25  John  5  :  39,  40. 


120 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


me  that  ye  might  receive  life.”  It  was  his  announce¬ 
ment  that  what  we  of  this  day  call  the  law  of 
biogenesis  obtains  in  religion  as  well  as  in  biology. 
By  no  processes  of  grammar,  philology,  lexicog¬ 
raphy,  archeology,  or  exegesis  can  men  produce 
the  life  of  God  in  the  souls  of  men.  All  these  are 
important  essentials  for  understanding  the  testi¬ 
mony  of  those  who  lead  to  the  Master.  Christianity 
will  become  for  the  teaching  pastor  the  possession 
and  impartation  of  the  life  of  God  revealed  in  Jesus 
Christ.  Nevertheless,  all  studies  for  which  we  have 
been  pleading  will  have  as  their  objective  the  clear, 
clean-cut  revelation  of  what  kind  of  a  life  it  is 
that  God  truly  gives  to  men.  We  are  not  quickened 
by  inspired  punctuation-marks,  but  by  the  life  of 
God  that  throbbed  in  men’s  lives  and  determined 
their  relations  to  others.  No  lexicon  can  ever  re¬ 
generate.  Life  alone  can  accomplish  that  miracle 
in  character.  This  was  the  method  of  the  Great 
Teacher.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  say,26  “  You  have 
heard  that  it  has  been  said  .  .  .  but  I  say  unto  you.” 
He  could  talk  that  way  because  in  him  was  life.27 
It  was  not  in  the  literature,  not  even  in  that  which 
he  did  not  set  aside,  much  less  in  that  which  he  did 
abrogate.  Everywhere  he  used  the  life  which  the 
Old  Testament  recorded  as  the  vehicle  through 
which  the  life  of  his  Father  came  to  the  men  of 
old.  But  most  of  all  it  was  his  own  life  that  he 
used,  his  teaching,  his  living.  Men  do  not  raise 
wheat  for  the  sake  of  straw  or  chaff,  but  without 
straw  or  chaff  there  could  be  no  precious  kernel 
for  the  food  of  men.  When  once  we  have  seen  the 

26  Matt.  5  :  21,  22,  27,  28,  31,  32,  33,  34.' 

27  John  1  :  4. 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Unity  121 


life  that  is  life  indeed  and  opened  our  hearts  to  its 
inflow,  we  shall  have  made  the  highest  possible  use 
of  the  Bible.  There  is  an  evangelistic  power  in 
teaching  at  least  equal  to  that  of  mere  pleading,  or 
exhorting,  or  the  telling  of  pathetic  stories,  or  mov¬ 
ing  merely  upon  the  emotions.  A  deep  conviction  is 
worth  a  thousand  tears,  unless  the  tears  come  be¬ 
cause  of  the  conviction. 

4.  If  All  Ministers  Were  Teaching  Pastors 

Lastly,  what  would  be  the  result  so  far  as  healing 
the  divisions  of  the  church  is  concerned  if  all  min¬ 
isters  of  all  denominations  were  for  a  single  gen¬ 
eration  to  practise  this  teaching  function?  What 
intelligence  would  come  to  the  Christian  body?  How 
many  grotesque,  queer,  and  inexcusable  segments 
of  the  Christian  church  would  fall  away?  If  just 
one  generation  could  be  free  from  allegorized,  spiri¬ 
tualized,  fanciful  treatment  of  Scripture  language 
and  dedicate  itself  under  the  guidance  of  a  compe¬ 
tent  ministry  to  the  sane  effort  to  find  exactly  what 
the  Scriptures  do  teach,  how  wonderful  the  next 
generation  would  be  in  knowledge!  With  the  Holy 
Spirit  resident  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  the  spirit 
of  truth  and  of  reality  sanctifying  the  souls  of  men, 
what  would  come  from  such  a  treatment  of  the 
Bible?  Why  should  men  resist  the  Holy  Spirit 
when  he  is  trying  to  teach  us  through  the  general 
progress  of  human  knowledge,  through  the  triumphs 
of  scientific  methods,  and  through  our  own  con¬ 
sciences  that  the  only  way  to  use  the  Bible  is  as  God 
in  his  providence  intended  us  to  use  it?  If  the 
church  could  have  educated  leadership  for  a  single 
generation,  its  fragments  would  come  together  and 


122 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


all  our  unhappy  divisions  would  disappear.  The  key 
to  the  solution  of  the  problem  lies  in  thoroughly 
educated  pastors  who  are  willing  to  perform  the 
teaching  function,  and  to  bring  up  young  and  old 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Let  the  Scriptures 
be  “  the  rule  of  our  faith  and  practise/'  but  let  them 
be  fairly  interpreted.  Some  years  ago  the  late 
President  Harper  of  the  University  of  Chicago  had 
an  experience  which  well  illustrates  this.  He  lectured 
in  the  city  of  New  York  before  the  Baptist  ministers 
of  that  city  and  vicinity.  The  impression  he  made 
by  his  lecture  upon  one  of  the  minor  prophets  was 
profound.  An  editor  of  a  certain  Baptist  news¬ 
paper,  not  published  in  New  York,  arose  and  an¬ 
nounced  that  he  had  engaged  Doctor  Harper  to  write 
twelve  articles  for  his  paper  upon  the  study  of  the 
Bible,  and  offered  the  ministers  a  year's  subscrip¬ 
tion  to  his  paper  at  greatly  reduced  rates  so  that 
they  could  have  the  advantage  of  reading  the  coming 
articles.  Large  numbers  subscribed.  The  articles 
were  never  published.  President  Harper  himself 
told  the  writer  the  reason.  The  editor  of  that  paper 
desired  in  the  announcement  of  the  contemplated 
articles  to  make  a  statement  concerning  Doctor  Har¬ 
per’s  views  of  the  Bible.  He  handed  the  distin¬ 
guished  scholar  a  paper  upon  which  was  written, 
“  I  believe  the  Scriptures  to  be  the  rule  of  Christian 
faith  and  practise,”  and  asked  Doctor  Harper  to 
sign  that  statement  that  he  might  print  it  in  the 
announcement.  The  great  man  took  the  paper,  put 
a  caret  after  the  word  “  Scriptures  ”  and  inserted 
two  words  “  fairly  interpreted.”  The  editor  declined 
to  allow  the  insertion  of  those  two  words  and  can¬ 
celed  the  contract  with  the  scholar,  though  he  did 


Relation  to  the  Problem  of  Christian  Li  nity  123 


not  return  the  money  to  the  subscribers.  “  Fairly 
interpreted.”  On  those  two  words  with  mutual 
Christian  love  really  hangs  the  solution  of  the  prob¬ 
lem  we  have  been  discussing.  What  other  words 
could  an  honest  man  use  ? 


LECTURE  VI 


SOME  SPIRITUAL  VALUES  OF  HIS  MINISTRY 

Every  Form  of  Ministry  Has  Its  Own  Spiritual  Value 

Each  of  the  manifold  forms  of  the  Christian  min¬ 
istry  yields  its  own  specific  spiritual  values.  Whether 
we  give  ourselves  to  missions,  philanthropy,  evan¬ 
gelism,  consolation,  the  individual  person,  or  scholar¬ 
ship,  there  always  comes  back  to  our  own  souls  the 
benediction  of  the  special  kind  of  work  we  do.  What 
are  some  of  the  values  that  the  teaching  pastor 
will  inevitably  discover?  These  will  relate  to  him¬ 
self,  to  the  literature  he  teaches,  to  those  whom  he 
seeks  to  instruct,  and  to  God. 

I.  Personal  Values 

The  teaching  pastor  will  reap  spiritual  blessings 
that  will  become  inalienable  in  his  personal  life. 

1.  Mental ,  Social ,  Ethical ,  and  Devotional  Values 

In  the  second  lecture  we  alluded  to  some  of  these : 
Compulsory,  systematic  Bible  study ;  fellowship  with 
others  in  the  pursuit  of  spiritual  reality;  wide  cul¬ 
ture  of  mind  inevitable  to  the  conscientious  student 
and  teacher;  ethical  enthusiasm  in  all  activities  of 
his  being;  and  genuine  devotional  appreciation  of 
the  Scriptures.  Only  experience  could  realize  the 
richness  of  these  blessings.  To  these  we  must  now 
add  a  few  others. 

124 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  125 


2.  Repose  of  Entire  Rational  Nature 

The  repose  of  his  rational  nature  in  sane  study 
of  the  Bible  and  in  teaching  its  results  will  follow. 
Personality  is  a  unit.  We  cannot  separate  mental 
processes  from  our  feelings.  What  God  has  joined 
together  in  the  oneness  of  personality  no  man  can 
put  asunder.  It  is  an  unspeakable  comfort  to  take 
the  whole  of  ourselves  into  any  task  or  service. 
Peace  of  mind  demands  that  there  shall  be  no  in¬ 
ward  discord,  that  all  powers  of  our  being  work  in 
harmony.  That  is  essential  for  growth  of  person¬ 
ality  and  for  its  highest  service.  Unfortunately 
today  some  men  are  called  “  pietists  ”  and  others 
“  rationalists.”  One  class  is  supposed  to  emphasize 
emotions,  conventional  religious  aspirations,  and 
vocabularies.  The  other  is  accused  of  overemphasis 
upon  intellectual  processes.  Thinking  men  should 
not  resign  themselves  to  either  of  these  classes.  No 
man  will  defend  the  statement  that  God  gave  human 
beings  brains  that  they  might  be  idle  in  religion,  or 
that  they  might  be  insulted  in  the  name  of  the  God 
who  gave  them.  The  soul  finds  its  ease  when  with¬ 
out  dismemberment  or  substraction  it  gives  its  en¬ 
tire  self.1  Such  complete  dedication  the  teaching 
pastor  gives,  and  reaps  rest  of  spirit.  “  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  mind  ”  2  is  part 
of  the  First  Commandment.  The  consequent  emo¬ 
tions  are  developed,  the  will  forms  its  purpose  ac¬ 
cordingly,  and  there  come  joy  and  enthusiasm. 
Years  ago  an  editor  of  a  daily  paper  who  was  also 
trying  to  teach  a  Bible  class  on  Sundays  told  the 

1  Rom.  7  :  15-24. 

2  Mark  12  :  30. 


126 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


writer  a  sad  personal  history.  After  preparation  at 
college  and  theological  seminary  he  declined  his  first 
call  to  a  pastorate  because  he  could  not  put  his  entire 
self  into  the  work.  His  rational  nature  would  not 
permit  him  to  preach  some  things  required.  He  be¬ 
came  a  traveling  salesman.  One  night  after  years 
of  selling  things  his  strong  religious  nature  reas¬ 
serted  itself.  He  yielded  to  the  suggestion  of  com¬ 
promise,  and  tried  to  walk  two  paths.  On  Sundays 
he  would  teach  such  traditional  views  as  he  could 
without  too  violent  offense  to  his  intellectual  nature, 
withholding  opinions  that  went  beyond  the  bounds 
set  by  his  church  relations.  Soon  the  unity  of  truth 
demanded  his  loyalty.  He  had  to  face  the  question 
of  the  ethical  honesty  of  giving  a  fraction  of  him¬ 
self  to  a  fraction  of  truth.  That  is  the  worst  form 
of  spiritual  segmentalism.  After  a  lengthy  cor¬ 
respondence  with  the  writer  he  surrendered  to  the 
first  commandment  of  our  Lord  3  and  then  found  not 
only  peace  in  his  soul,  but  vastly  increased  efficiency 
in  his  Sunday  work,  and  finally  gave  up  journalism, 
entered  the  ministry,  and  constantly  rejoices  in  his 
work  as  a  teaching  pastor.  When  we  love  Christ, 
the  Bible,  and  men  with  all  our  hearts  and  minds  and 
soul  and  strength,  there  comes  a  calmness  and  har¬ 
mony  of  spirit  that  is  an  unspeakable  asset  to  a 
minister’s  work.  There  are  only  two  ways  of  peace¬ 
ful  rest,  that  of  Jonah  with  a  dead  conscience,4  and 
that  of  Jesus  in  perfect  oneness  with  God.5  Both 
slept  in  storms,  but  how  utterly  different  were  the 
conditions  of  soul  that  made  rest  possible.  In  re¬ 
ligion  compromise  and  contentment  are  foes.  Only 
when  the  minister  in  his  study  and  teaching  as  well 


3  Mark  12  :  30. 


*  Jonah  1  :  5. 


6  Mark  4  :  38. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  127 


as  in  his  life  fearlessly  follows  the  light  that  God 
sends,  can  he  expect  to  have  the  peace  that  passes 
understanding. 

3.  Nourishment  of  Spirit  While  Feeding  Others 

The  teaching  pastor  will  nourish  his  own  spirit 
while  he  feeds  the  lives  of  others.  Frederick  W. 
Robertson  describes  some  ministers  who  are  like 
fountains  in  parks.  The  refreshing  water  flows  to 
slake  the  thirst  of  others,  but  the  pipes  absorb  none 
of  it.  Not  so  could  be  the  teaching  pastor.  Possibly 
only  through  bitter  experiences,  such  as  some  of  us 
have  had,  in  transition  from  loose  methods  of  Bible 
study  into  the  only  sane  method,  can  self-nourish¬ 
ment  and  teaching  become  synchronous.  The 
modern  locomotive  does  not  stop  at  water  tanks  but 
gets  the  water  from  troughs  between  the  rails. 
“  They  shall  feed  in  the  ways  ” 6  along  the  exalted 
highways  is  the  conception  of  an  Old  Testament 
prophet.  Wherever  a  minister  will  saturate  him¬ 
self  with  the  Biblical  life  he  is  studying,  he  will  find- 
food  for  himself.  His  sermons  will  be  autobiograph¬ 
ical.  His  words  will  come  with  his  life-blood  upon 
them.  There  will  be  an  accent  of  reality  which  the 
best-conceived  or  written  essay  cannot  imitate.  He 
will  deal  with  life  and  not  discuss  topics.  He  will 
utter  reality,  not  pious  conventionality.  The  defi¬ 
nition  of  a  sermon  by  Phillips  Brooks,  “  Truth 
through  personality,”  7  will  be  an  actual  experience. 
Expression  will  be  the  necessity  of  possession.  He 
will  be  speaking  things  he  has  seen  and  heard.8  No 

6  Isa.  49  :  9-11. 

7  Yale  “  Lectures  on  Preaching,”  by  Phillips  Brooks,  1877. 

8 1  John  1  :  1-3. 


128 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


solitude  of  retreats,  no  galvanism  by  intense  effort, 
no  frenzy  like  that  of  Baal  priests  9  can  ever  produce 
what  will  inevitably  come  if  we  live  with  those  who 
have  found  spiritual  reality. 

4.  The  Spiritual  Blessedness  of  Teaching 

He  will  know  the  peculiar  blessedness  of  the  teach¬ 
ing  ministry.  There  is  no  higher  joy  than  that  of 
leading  a  person  into  intelligent  discipleship  to  Jesus 
Christ.  There  is  a  peculiar  blessedness  in  knowing 
that  some  ignorance  has  given  way  to  light,  that 
error  has  been  corrected  by  illumination  that  does 
not  lead  astray,  and  that  superstition  has  retired 
before  clear  knowledge  of  the  will  of  God.  Was  not 
this  the  joy  of  the  great  Teacher,  as  he  dealt  with  the 
Twelve  ?  Ponder  his  deep  stirring  of  soul  in  thanks¬ 
giving  for  his  success  as  the  mediator  who  had  re¬ 
vealed  the  things  of  God  to  the  openminded.10  Think 
of  his  joy  the  night  before  his  death.  He  had  mani¬ 
fested  the  nature  of  the  heavenly  Father  to  the 
Twelve.11  No  wonder  he  spoke  of  his  joy.  Art  has 
never  painted  the  face  of  a  happy  Christ.  Yet  he 
taught  his  little  school  that  his  joy  might  remain  in 
them  and  their  joy  might  be  full.12  It  was  the  joy  of 
perfect  self-realization,  of  perfect  social  adjustment, 
and  of  uninterrupted  communion  with  the  Father, 
a  happiness  over  which  circumstances  had  no  con¬ 
trol,  and  which  is  as  good  for  any  other  world  as  for 
this.  It  is  the  peculiar  joy  of  the  teacher  who  tries 
to  reveal  God  and  spiritual  reality  to  those  to  whom 
he  ministers. 

s  1  Kings  18  :  28,  29. 

10  Luke  10  :  21. 

^  John  17  :  6. 

12  John  15  :  11  ;  16  :  24  ;  17  :  13. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  129 


II.  Appreciation  of  the  Bible 

Think  of  his  appreciation  of  the  Biblical  record 
of  revelation.  God  uses  every  avenue  to  show  him¬ 
self  to  men.  The  material  universe,  the  course  of 
human  history,  the  image  of  God  in  man — all  are 
vehicles  of  revelation.  Certain  characteristics  of 
revelation  recorded  in  the  Bible  become  valuably 
apparent  to  the  teaching  pastor. 

1.  Revelation  Through  History 

Its  historical  character  is  precious.  It  has  come 
through  life,  not  through  magic.  An  angel  flying 
through  the  skies  trumpeting  truth,  or  unusual  mani¬ 
festations  of  the  unseen  God  might  seem  to  some 
more  authentic  and  influential  than  the  simple  story 
of  how  men  came  to  know  God  through  life.  Jesus 
discounted  faith  in  such  signs  13  and  declared  that 
those  who  sought  them  belonged  to  a  generation 
neither  good  nor  pure.14  He  also  declared  that  re¬ 
velation  was  discernible  in  current  events,  that  all 
life  was  a  sign,  and  that  what  men  needed  was  not 
signs  but  eyes  to  understand  the  signs  in  the  life 
of  which  they  were  a  part.15  That  our  Father  chose 
the  ordinary  human  life  as  the  means  of  revealing 
himself  is  of  the  utmost  value.  The  Bible  is  no 
Koran,  no  accumulation  of  detached,  imaginary  mes¬ 
sages  dictated  by  the  Almighty  without  reference 
to  the  circumstances  under  which  the  revelation  was 
given.  The  typewriter  or  phonograph  theory  of 
inspiration  can  hardly  be  accepted  by  intelligent 
students  of  the  Scriptures.  Human  minds  were  not 

13  John  2  :  23,  24  ;  cf.  Matt.  4  :  5-7. 

14  Matt.  12  :  39. 

15  Luke  12  :  54-57. 


130 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


holy  victrola  discs  indented  with  the  intonations  of 
the  Infinite.  Revelations  came  through  historic  con¬ 
ditions,  personal  experiences,  situations  current  at 
given  times.  God  was  interested  in  life  and  wished 
to  teach  men  how  to  live.  The  Holy  Spirit  brooded 
over  all  processes  of  life.  The  spiritually-minded 
discerned  the  divine  element  in  a  given  situation  and 
had  courage  to  declare  what  they  beheld.  The  state¬ 
ment  of  our  Lord  that  the  pure  in  heart  see  God  16 
is  also  applicable  to  Old  Testament  history.  The 
prophet  had  spiritual  aspirations  and  receptivity. 
With  singleness  of  eye  he  desired  to  see  the  moral 
significance  of  a  condition  or  event.17  The  veil  was 
lifted  and  he  could  say,  “  Thus  saith  the  Lord.” 
Our  Father  was  interested  in  men,  their  political 
situations,  their  moral  aspirations,  their  backslid- 
ings.  One  reads  the  Old  Testament  prophets  to  little 
purpose  if  he  does  not  see  that  many  utterances 
grow  out  of  their  conviction  of  the  profound  concern 
of  Jehovah  in  international  politics.  For  these  men 
the  dreams  of  Babylon,  Assyria,  Egypt,  and  the 
Hittites  for  world  power  were  not  merely  secular 
affairs.  The  little  hyphen  land  of  Palestine  that 
seemed  to  these  great  powers  to  be  only  a  pathway 
on  which  to  get  at  one  another,  was  a  gorge  through 
which  the  pent-up  floods  of  aspiration  for  world 
dominion  swept  with  terrific  power,  and  yet  a  calm, 
placid  lake  surrounded  by  the  protecting  mountains 
of  Jehovah’s  care.  Some  one  has  said  that  “  history 
is  His  story.”  Precisely  because  the  revelation  re¬ 
corded  in  the  Scriptures  is  historical  we  are  driven 
back  to  the  history  in  order  to  understand  the  revela¬ 
tion.  The  unveiling  comes  through  life,  and  lit- 

10  Matt.  5:8.  17  Matt.  6  :  22,  23. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  131 


erature  as  the  record  of  life.  In  that  history  men 
were  certainly  factors,  seeking  to  work  out  their 
own  plans.  Sometimes  these  factors  claimed  that 
their  purposes  were  inspired  by  the  deities  of  the 
territories  in  which  they  lived.  Nevertheless,  the 
Factor  unrecognized  by  the  common  people,  un¬ 
dreamed  of  by  the  world’s  leaders,  was  clearly 
perceived  by  those  whose  hearts  were  open  to  the 
revelation  that  came  through  the  history.  It  is  of  tre¬ 
mendous  meaning  that  this  method  was  chosen  by 
the  God  of  all  the  earth  for  the  unveiling  of  himself. 
Does  it  not  sanctify  all  so-called  secular  occurrences 
of  human  history?  Did  not  God  wish  us  to  learn 
the  great  lesson  that  he  does  not  work  outside  of 
ordinary  normal  processes,  but  uses  them  all  as  the 
vehicles  of  revelation? 

2.  The  Religious  Value  of  Human  Experiences 

We  thus  learn  the  religious  value  of  human  ex¬ 
periences.  God  spoke  unto  the  fathers  in  many  frag¬ 
ments,  and  multiform  ways,18  as  varied  as  the  lives 
that  understood  them  and  the  experiences  they  had. 
The  Old  Testament  is  not  above  saying  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  helped  a  man  to  hammer  out  some  of  the  brass 
ornaments  of  the  tabernacle.19  God  brooded  over 
life  all  the  way  from  primitive  metallurgy  and  archi¬ 
tecture  to  the  life  of  our  Lord.  One  is  bewildered 
if  he  tries  to  catalog  the  experiences  of  men  through 
which  God  came  to  them.20  Nor  can  we  forget  stories 
like  those  of  Abraham,  an  idolater  in  his  native 
land,21  dissatisfied  with  the  worship  of  his  moon 

18  Heb.  1  :  1. 

19  Exod.  31  :  1-5. 

20  See  “  Voices  of  the  Spirit,”  by  George  Matheson. 

21  Josh.  24  :  14,  15. 


132 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


god  and  going  out  in  fidelity  to  the  God  his  own  heart 
called  for.  Through  what  experiences  Jehovah  re¬ 
vealed  himself  to  this  “  father  of  the  faithful,”  this 
“  friend  of  God.”  22  Nor  must  we  forget  Jacob,  that 
heel-catcher,  supplanter,  who  started  out  to  win  life's 
victories  through  the  clever  exercise  of  his  pawn¬ 
broking  spirit,  and  how  in  the  very  midst  of  his 
emigration  between  two  suns  he  was  forced  to  his 
knees  and  taught  that  he  could  not  enter  Canaan 
through  mere  shrewdness,  but  as  a  prince  of 
prayer  23  and  as  a  suppliant.  What  these  stories  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  the  New  as  well,  teach  is  that 
every  event  in  life  has  its  divine  significance,  that 
God  does  not  disdain  to  use  ordinary  occurrences 
as  well  as  extraordinary  for  the  unveiling  of  him¬ 
self.  Because  the  revelation  was  historical  it  had  to 
come  through  events  which  taken  together  make  up 
history.  In  the  experiences  of  nations  as  well  as  of 
persons  God  made  his  nature  known  to  the  world. 

3.  Divine  Use  of  Current  Vehicles 

God  used  current  vehicles  in  revelation.  Hebrew 
poetry  in  the  Old  Testament  and  that  of  the  Baby¬ 
lonians  differ  not  in  form  but  in  content.  No  new 
literary  vehicle  was  made.  Parallelism  prevailed 
throughout  Semitic  nations.  There  was  no  creation 
of  a  celestial  alphabet,  nor  of  a  heavenly  grammar, 
nor  of  a  supernatural  vocabulary,  none  of  which 
could  have  been  understood.  Divine  ideas  did  not 
require  extraordinary  vehicles.  Nor  was  there 
miraculous  anticipation  of  types  of  civilization  that 
developed  centuries  after  an  occurrence.  God  used 

22  James  2  :  23. 

23  Gen.  32  :  24-28. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  133 


what  men  had.  He  always  does  the  best  he  can  with 
the  material  at  his  disposal,  whether  it  is  literature 
or  life.  The  kinship  between  the  early  narratives 
of  Genesis  and  current  Semitic  literature  ought  not 
to  surprise  us.24  The  revelations  of  God  were  con¬ 
temporary,  and  in  terms  that  could  be  understood 
by  those  who  received  them.  They  used  current  con¬ 
ceptions  of  the  physical  universe.  The  Almighty 
did  not  reveal  beforehand  nor  anticipate  our  knowl¬ 
edge  of  modern  science.  He  could  not  have  been 
understood  had  he  done  so.  Surely  it  should  comfort 
us  that  God  is  glad  to  use  whatever  we  possess  as 
the  channel  of  his  revelation.  It  has  always  been 
true  of  revelation  that  men  had  the  heavenly  treasure 
in  earthen  vessels.25  Every  vessel,  literary,  domestic, 
commercial,  can  be  sanctified  by  the  Spirit  who 
would  use  it  to  convey  truth. 

4.  The  Permanent  Values  of  the  Bible 

We  learn  the  permanent  values  of  the  Bible.  How 
hard  it  is  for  some  to  distinguish  between  the  tran¬ 
sient  and  the  permanent.  The  world  is  much  like 
each  human  heart.  Before  each  of  us  passes  a  pro¬ 
cession  of  countless  vehicles  which  dump  their  con¬ 
tents  into  our  lives  and  then  pass  on.  School-books 
from  which  we  learn  alphabets,  arithmetic,  geog¬ 
raphy,  geometry,  and  literature;  playmates,  inci¬ 
dents  of  youthful  life,  have  passed  out  into  the 
eternity  that  has  gone.  What  they  have  brought 
abides.  Knowledge,  largeness  of  soul,  sympathy,  in¬ 
creased  social  instincts,  hungers  and  thirst  for 
larger  manhood,  conceptions  of  God,  the  values  of 

24  See  “  The  Early  Narratives  of  Genesis,”  by  Herbert  Edward  Ryle. 

26  2  Cor.  4  :  7. 


134 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


social  life,  and  a  thousand  other  things  remain  in 
the  treasury  of  the  spirit.  In  our  experiences  we 
never  identify  the  vehicle  with  its  content.  This  is 
largely  true  with  reference  to  much  of  the  Bible. 
The  things  which  are  seen  are  for  a  season;  the 
things  that  are  unseen  are  eternal.26  This  is  so 
about  the  relation  of  vehicle  and  thought,  and  our 
conception  of  the  value  of  the  permanent  things  of 
the  Bible.  We  shall  soon  see  that  we  do  not  regard 
many  things  in  the  Scriptures  as  of  everlasting 
value.  The  law  of  the  kingdom  of  God — of  every 
kingdom  with  which  God  has  to  do — is  first  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.27 
With  all  of  us  there  are  things,  elemental,  germinal, 
and  initial,  then  crude  stages  in  which  life,  ideals, 
and  religion  are  growing,  then  the  ripened  stage 
which  explains  all  that  has  gone  before.  No  one 
should  be  surprised  to  find  in  the  story  of  the  origins 
recorded  in  the  Bible  much  that  seems  unlike  what 
we  today  cherish  and  love,  such  as  crude  morals,  im¬ 
perfect  ideas  of  God  and  of  life  that  will  not  stand 
the  test  of  the  revelation  made  in  Jesus  Christ.  This 
stares  us  in  the  face  when  we  study  the  Scriptures. 
Out  of  it  all  we  come  to  see  the  permanent  values  of 
life  and  of  truth,  and  these  authenticate  themselves 
to  us  by  their  own  inherent,  axiomatic  power.  Man¬ 
kind  in  thinking  and  living  has  always  followed  the 
advice  of  Paul  to  the  Philippians,28  “  Whereunto  we 
have  attained,  in  the  same  let  us  walk/’  Truth  is 
often  like  beautiful  water-lilies  that  float  upon  the 
surface  of  the  pond  with  their  roots  in  the  black 
mire  below  the  flower  which  explains  all  previous 
processes  and  history.  There  are  the  beginnings 

26  2  Cor.  4  :  18.  27  Mark  4  :  28.  2S  Phil.  3  :  16. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  135 


and  the  developments.  Not  the  least  of  the  per¬ 
manent  values  of  the  Bible  are  precisely  those  we 
are  now  describing.  They  are  the  revelations  of  the 
processes  through  which  God  reveals  himself,  of  the 
developments  of  ideals  into  which  he  would  lift  us, 
of  the  growth  of  fellowship  and  communion  with 
himself  which  in  all  ages  will  be  commensurate 
with  our  knowledge  of  him  and  our  spiritual  attain¬ 
ment. 

III.  Values  Seen  in  Human  Life 

There  are  also  spiritual  values  which  the  teaching 
pastor  will  discover  with  reference  to  his  pupils. 

1.  The  Place  of  the  Bible  in  Religious  Life 

The  place  of  the  Bible  in  their  religious  lives  will 
be  second  only  to  that  occupied  by  God  and  Jesus 
Christ.  There  may  be  preachers  many  and  books 
without  number,  but  the  Bible  will  always  stand  as 
the  religious  classic.  With  more  intelligence  con¬ 
cerning  it,  its  place  will  be  higher  than  ever.  Hith¬ 
erto  it  has  furnished  vocabulary,  beautiful  quotations 
and  illustrations,  material  for  devout  meditation, 
and  incentive  to  sacrificial  service,  but  most  of 
all  it  has  given  Jesus  Christ 29  to  us.  The  Bible  will 
never  be  outgrown.  No  one  who  has  really  studied 
it  sanely  will  ever  speak  slightingly  of  it.  The 
charge  that  scientific  study  of  the  Bible  is  mutila¬ 
tion  and  comparison  of  the  work  of  scholars  with 
the  penknife  of  Jekoiakim30  reveal  only  the  igno¬ 
rance  of  those  who  speak  thus.  The  Bible  is  becom¬ 
ing  more  and  more  influential.  In  novels,  and 

20  Jolin  5  :  39. 

80  Jei\  36  :  23. 


136 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


dramas,  and  general  literature  men  are  driven  to 
read  it  if  they  would  appreciate  our  literary  heritage. 
More  than  all,  the  life  this  literature  reveals  is  more 
thoroughly  appreciated  as  it  is  understood.  Next 
to  the  Life  that  is  the  light  of  men  will  be  its  power. 

2.  The  Social  Value  of  Biblical  Ideals 

The  social  value  of  Biblical  ideals  becomes  more 
and  more  apparent.  Great  principles  which  bear 
upon  human  relations  are  sought  for.  Instead  of 
seeking  to  find  specific  teachings  about  unanticipated 
forms  of  sin,  or  maladjustments  in  commercial, 
political,  or  industrial  life  which  did  not  exist  in 
Biblical  times,  or  using  the  Bible  as  a  reference- 
book,  men  are  going  to  the  Scriptures  for  ideals  of 
right  relations  to  God  and  to  one  another,  and  are 
trying  to  apply  these  to  existing  conditions.  So¬ 
cialism  without  religion,  the  brute  force  of  war,  in¬ 
tellectual  cultivation  without  spiritual  nurture,  have 
been  found  wanting.  Statesmen  who  are  Christians, 
and  some  who  are  not,  are  declaring  that  the  only 
help  for  the  world  today  is  in  religion,  and  in  the 
application  of  its  principles  to  human  relations.  The 
solvent  of  our  muddy  problems  is  found  only  in  the 
ideals  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  That  is  the  ideal  that 
runs  through  the  Scriptures  and  unifies  the  pam¬ 
phlets  that  compose  the  sacred  volume.  That  God 
shall  rule  in  human  life  in  all  its  relations  has  been 
the  one  purpose  revealed  in  the  plan  of  the  Almighty. 
No  one  perceives  this  so  well  as  he  who  sweeps 
through  the  history  covered  by  this  literature.  At 
every  stage  God  tries  to  moralize  life,  in  the  individ¬ 
ual  soul,  in  the  relations  between  persons  and  be¬ 
tween  nations.  The  significance  of  the  Bible  for  in- 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  137 


ternational  life  has  hardly  been  considered.  Yet  the 
book  rings  throughout  with  heavenly  voices  con¬ 
cerning  human  fraternity,  justice,  the  contribution 
of  the  strong  to  the  weak,  and  the  great  tolerance 
of  God  for  the  immature.  The  sociological  value 
of  the  Scriptures  is  yet  to  be  exploited  for  practical 
purposes.  The  greatest  earthly  art  is  the  art  of 
living  together,  and  toward  this  art  the  contribu¬ 
tion  of  the  Scriptures  will  be  the  highest. 

3.  The  Democracy  of  Religious  Truth 

In  the  religion  of  Jehovah  there  is  nothing  esoteric. 
All  souls  are  equally  dear  to  the  heavenly  Father.31 
All  men  are  entitled  to  know  all  truth.  No  privi¬ 
leged  class  can  lock  up  in  its  custody  any  revelation 
of  the  Father  concerning  himself  or  human  life.  In 
Judaism  and  in  Christianity  there  are  no  places  for 
religious  secret  societies  or  esoteric  truth.  What¬ 
ever  is  whispered  in  the  ear  shall  be  revealed  upon 
the  housetop.32  No  other  volume  insists  upon  the 
democracy  of  knowledge  so  emphatically.  Wherever 
it  has  been  translated  into  a  vernacular,  and  freedom 
of  study  permitted,  men  have  been  emancipated. 
Formerly  the  lips  of  the  priest  kept  knowledge.33 
Now  all  men  are  priests  unto  God.  The  few  are  no 
longer  the  custodians  of  religious  reality.  Every 
man  must  share  with  others  his  experiences  of  that 
reality.  The  missionary  character  of  the  Scriptures 
lies  in  this  fact.  There  is  to  be  no  aristocracy  of 
Biblical  scholars.  Truth  discovered  must  be  pub¬ 
lished.  The  Bethlehem  shepherds  went  all  the  way 

*  Matt.  10  :  27. 

32  Ezekiel  18.  a  nivotal  utterance  in  the  historv  of  theology. 

88  Mai.  2  :  7. 


138 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


and  saw  what  had  occurred,  and  then  proceeded  to 
tell  others.34  That  course  should  characterize  all 
who  understand  the  Biblical  spirit  and  ideals.  Self¬ 
ishness  in  the  possession  of  religious  knowledge  is 
impossible.  Altruism  in  everything  that  God  gives 
is  part  of  the  condition  upon  which  the  Almighty 
bestows.  A  Bible-knowing  people  will  be  mission¬ 
ary,  evangelistic,  educational,  and  philanthropic. 

4.  The  Increase  of  Reverence  Through  Knowledge 

There  will  come  increasing  love  and  reverence 
for  the  Scriptures  with  increasing  knowledge.  We 
used  to  hear  the  remark,  “  I  know  the  Bible  is  from 
God  because  there  are  so  many  things  in  it  I  cannot 
understand.”  As  if  incomprehensibility  could  ever 
characterize  a  God  who  is  struggling  to  reveal  him¬ 
self  to  his  creatures,  and  to  have  them  share  his  life. 
Precisely  the  opposite  is  now  said,  “  We  know  the 
Bible  is  from  God  only  so  far  as  we  understand  it.” 
It  authenticates  itself  to  our  moral  natures  as  the 
sun  to  the  eye,  the  perfume  to  the  nostril,  or  the  air 
to  the  lung.  Superstition  is  awe  based  upon  igno¬ 
rance.  Reverence  is  awe  based  upon  knowledge.  No 
longer  is  the  material  book  of  paper,  ink,  and  leather 
a  fetish.  We  go  deeper  than  what  can  be  seen  and 
handled.  Bibliolatry  is  passing.  Men  explore,  and 
when  in  the  presence  of  divine  things  they  worship. 
Jacob  said,  “  The  Lord  was  in  this  place,  and  I  knew 
it  not.”  35  We  search  for  him  in  every  place  and 
revere  him  wherever  we  find  him.  There  is  no 
danger  of  destroying  the  faith  of  those  who  know. 
Credulity  may  be  set  aside  and  superstition  dis¬ 
placed,  but  the  abiding  confidence  that  men  of  old 

31  Luke  2  :  17.  18.  36  Gen.  28  :  16. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  139 


spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost 36  can 
come  into  our  hearts  only  as  we  understand  what 
these  men  said.  One  of  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  the  critical  faculty37  which  does  not  believe  every 
spirit,  but  tries  the  spirits  whether  they  be  of  God.38 
When  we  exercise  this  gift  of  judgment,  upon  the 
discovery  of  the  voice  of  God  men  become  more 
reverent.  Multitudes  within  the  last  generation 
have  been  emancipated  from  mistaken  conceptions 
of  the  Bible  and  have  found  new  love  for  it  and  new 
life  through  it.  It  has  not  yet  been  made  the  book 
of  the  people.  In  this  vast  ignorance  of  what  it 
really  is  and  teaches  lies  unlimited  scope  for  the 
ministry  of  the  teaching  pastor.  Unlimited  joy  can 
come  to  him  and  to  those  who  are  taught,  when  the 
Bible  is  no  longer  a  sealed  book  to  the  majority  of 
Christians,  but  when  its  significance  has  been  made 
as  wide-spread  as  Christian  discipleship. 

5.  How  the  Bible  Was  Meant  to  Guide  Life 

We  can  also  understand  how  the  Bible  is  “  the  rule 
of  faith  and  practise.”  Scriptural  guidance,  coveted 
by  countless  devout  hearts,  will  never  be  achieved 
while  the  book  is  regarded  as  a  collection  of  dis¬ 
jointed  maxims  for  modern  life,  or  so  long  as  human 
conduct  is  controlled  by  irreverent  and  mechanical 
uses  of  it.  The  Bible  is  no  law-book,  but  a  record 
of  growing  religious  life.  God  trusts  us.  This  is 
the  meaning  of  the  divinest  gift  of  God  to  the  world 
— the  forgiveness  of  sins  in  Jesus  Christ.  Pardon  is 
a  legal  word  concerning  the  remission  of  penalty. 

38  2  Pet.  1  :  21. 

37 1  Cor.  12  :  10;  14  :  29. 

38 1  John  4  :  1. 


140 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


Forgiveness  is  a  social  word  relating  to  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  personal  relations.  Because  God  forgives  he 
trusts.  He  trusts  us  with  new  days  when  we  have 
abused  those  that  are  past;  with  new  friends  when 
we  have  been  disloyal  to  old  ones;  with  new  oppor¬ 
tunities  when  we  have  abused  those  that  have  gone. 
He  trusts  us  when  others  do  not  trust  us ;  even  when 
we  do  not  trust  ourselves.  He  trusts  us  that  we  may 
love  him  with  our  minds  by  our  right  thinking,  and 
with  our  wills  that  we  may  be  self-determining  in 
our  conduct.  In  all  this  he  trusts  us  with  those 
principles  of  true  living  revealed  in  the  life  of  which 
the  Bible  is  the  record.  Forgiven  men  exercise  the 
responsibilities  of  the  divine  trust  in  them  because 
of  the  Father’s  forgiveness  through  Jesus  Christ. 
In  some  far-off  day,  yet  too  distant  for  even  a  glimpse 
of  it,  men  will  accept  to  the  full  this  trusting  for¬ 
giveness  of  the  Father  and  will  see  the  Bible  more 
than  ever  as  the  guide  of  life,  and  in  the  principles 
it  reveals  more  than  ever  the  strength  and  the  ful¬ 
ness  of  humanity’s  joy.  Not  by  minute  regulations 
of  life  does  the  Bible  become  the  lamp  to  our  feet, 
but  by  disclosing  the  divine  principles  of  righteous 
living  and  loving  service  that  God  trusts  us  to  dis¬ 
cover  and  to  apply  in  the  details  of  our  personal 
lives  and  social  relations.  It  is  the  law  in  the  heart 
that  controls.39  Only  such  study  as  we  are  advo¬ 
cating  will  yield  these  stars  for  the  nights  of  our 
perplexities. 

IV.  The  Knowledge  of  God 

The  teaching  pastor  will  achieve  the  highest  re¬ 
sults  in  the  knowledge  of  God.  The  historical 


30  Jer.  31  :  33. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  141 


method  of  Bible  study  will  lead  to  the  discovery  of 
what  God  did  in  history  and  of  what  he  is  doing 
today.  It  will  prevent  us  from  imagining  deity  and 
what  the  deity  of  our  imagination  should  have  done. 
This  a-priori  method  of  theology  gives  freedom  to 
each  wild  fancy  to  conceive  a  deity  and  permits  as 
many  deities  as  there  are  minds  who  try  thus  to 
imagine  him.  On  the  other  hand,  the  careful  student 
who  seeks  from  the  literature  to  reproduce  the  his¬ 
tory  and  to  appraise  the  results  of  study  for  the  pur¬ 
poses  of  theology,  will  have  a  clear  conception  of  how  - 
God  has  revealed  himself.  He  will  avoid  the  grotesque 
results  of  the  a-priori  method.  “  Thou  thoughtest 
that  I  was  altogether  such  an  one  as  thyself,”  40  is  an 
expression  put  into  the  lips  of  Jehovah  by  a  Hebrew 
poet.  There  is  ample  justification  for  this  saying 
in  the  variations  of  theology,  each  colored  by  person¬ 
alities  that  have  tried  to  make  gods  in  their  own 
image.  Among  the  things  which  the  teaching  pastor 
will  discover  and  share  with  his  pupils  are  the  fol¬ 
lowing  : 

1.  Gods  Revelation  of  Himself  Progressive 

God  has  progressively  revealed  himself.  His 
method  has  been  evolutionary.  He  spoke  as  men 
were  able  to  hear,  and  unveiled  himself  as  men  were 
able  to  see.  The  extent  of  the  revelation  was  mea¬ 
sured  by  the  receptive  capacity  of  men.  Revelation 
enlarged  life.  The  growing  development  of  men  also 
produced  widenings  of  spirit  and  keenness  of  per¬ 
ception,  and  to  these  widened  souls  God  made  larger 
revelations.  The  growing  life  and  increased  light 
kept  pace  with  each  other.  The  time  has  passed 

40  Ps.  50  :  21. 


142 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


when  men  think  that  all  parts  of  the  Bible  have  the 
same  spiritual  value,  that  permanent  revelations  are 
found  equally  in  early  Hebrew  history  and  in  the 
fulness  of  time,41  that  truth  spoken  in  fragmentary 
and  multiform  ways  has  the  same  value  as  the  reve¬ 
lation  of  God  made  in  a  Son.42  In  the  crescent  evolu¬ 
tion  of  humanity,  God  came  ever  increasingly.  There 
are  crude  morals  in  the  Old  Testament  that  could  not 
for  a  moment  stand  the  test  of  Christian  standards. 
No  modern  churches  would  allow  some  notable  Old 
Testament  characters  to  retain  membership  in  them. 
Yet  these  same  characters  were  far  above  their  con¬ 
temporaries  in  other  nations  and  even  in  their  own. 
We  have  given  up  the  idea  that  one  nation  could 
monopolize  the  revelation  of  God.  The  early  thought 
that  Israel  could  monopolize  Jehovah  vanished  in 
the  thought  of  eighth-century  prophets.  Think  of 
Isaiah  declaring  that  the  time  was  coming  when 
Israel  should  be  one-third  of  God’s  people,  with 
Egypt  that  had  oppressed  them  for  so  many  centur¬ 
ies  another  third,  and  Assyria  that  had  deported  so 
many  of  the  tribes  the  other  third.43  Think  of  the 
book  of  Jonah  as  a  protest  against  the  spirit  that 
would  exclude  Assyria  from  the  grace  of  Jehovah.44 
We  also  lose  the  thought  that  foreign  religions  made 
no  appeal  to  Jehovah.  What  meaning  there  was 
in  the  statement  that  Jehovah  would  not  throw  away 
the  bruised  reeds  with  which  men  tried  to  walk  the 
journey  of  life,  nor  puif  out  the  dimly  burning, 
smoky  flame  from  the  lamps  they  used  to  light  their 
way  until  he  should  send  forth  human  judgment, 
the  rational  nature,  unto  its  victory  over  what  the 

41  Gal.  4:4.  43  Isa.  19  :  23-25. 

42  Heb.  1  :  1.  44  Jonah  4  :  11. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  143 


Jew  regarded  as  broken  staffs  and  dim  lights!  We 
have  abandoned  the  notion  that  Jehovah  ruled  hu¬ 
manity  by  whims  and  arbitrary  caprices.  It  is  a 
far  journey  from  killing  a  man  who  works  on  the 
Sabbath  day45  to  the  statement  that  the  Sabbath 
was  made  for  man  ;46  from  the  dim  days  when  men 
dreamed  that  God  commanded  them  to  massacre 
an  entire  population  47  to  the  love  of  God  that  came 
not  to  destroy  lives  but  to  save  them.48  There  is  a 
vast  moral  distance  between  a  beatitude  upon  the 
man  who  beats  out  the  brains  of  infants  against 
the  rocks,  and  the  arms  of  Christ  that  snuggled  the 
little  ones  to  his  breast  and  the  voice  of  the  Christ 
who  says  that  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.49 
There  is  a  long  step  in  morals  between  the  supposed 
command  to  borrow  jewelry  from  the  Egyptians 
with  no  thought  of  returning  it50  and  the  noble 
speech  of  Zaccheus  who  would  return  fourfold  to  any 
victim  of  his  extortion.51  Today  in  this  light  of  the 
progressive  unveiling  of  the  nature  of  God  we  are 
free  from  both  the  intellectual  and  the  moral  diffi¬ 
culties  which  beset  the  lover  of  the  Scriptures  be¬ 
fore  the  historical  method  of  Bible  study  came  to 
the  perplexed  student.  Men  could  conceive  of  their 
deities  only  in  terms  of  religions  all  around  them, 
modified  by  such  differences  as  God  himself  had 
made  known.  Large  numbers  did  not  believe  in 
monotheism.  Their  creed  embraced  a  belief  in 
Chemosh  as  much  as  in  Jehovah.52  It  was  a  matter 
of  territory.  Even  David  thought  that  if  he  were 
driven  from  Palestine  he  should  be  forced  to  serve 

45  Exod.  35  :  1-3.  »  Ps.  137  :  9 ;  Mark  10  :  13-16. 

48  Mark  2  :  27.  50  Exod.  3  :  22. 

47 1  Sam.  15  :  2,  3.  51  Luke  19  :  8. 

48  Luke  9  :  56.  62  Judg.  11  :  24. 


144 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


strange  gods  in  another  land.53  We  no  longer  con¬ 
ceive  of  God  as  fighting  for  us  because  he  is  obliged 
to  be  loyal  to  his  people,  whether  right  or  wrong. 
Our  question  is  whether  we  are  battling  on  the  side 
of  God  who  cares  more  for  justice  and  righteous¬ 
ness  than  he  does  for  the  preservation  of  lineal  de¬ 
scendants  from  the  loins  of  Abraham.  In  the  eighth 
century  before  Christ  ideas  of  God  changed  rapidly. 
Those  prophets  have  recorded  the  revelations  of  God 
that  came  through  their  own  lives  and  times.  We 
no  longer  emphasize  the  Old  Testament  law  as  being 
binding  upon  us.  The  prophets  had  moral  courage  to 
battle  against  the  priests  who  insisted  upon  an  ex¬ 
ternal,  mechanical  routine  such  as  constituted  the 
essence  of  religion  in  surrounding  nations.  No  one 
can  read  the  first  chapter  of  Isaiah,  or  the  sixth 
chapter  of  Micah,  or  the  Fifty-first  Psalm,  and  many 
other  portions  of  the  Scripture  without  seeing  how 
the  prophetic  ideals  brushed  aside  external  per¬ 
formances  and  insisted  upon  internal  righteousness 
and  love.  Amos  represents  Jehovah  as  saying,54 
“  Did  ye  bring  unto  me  sacrifices  and  offerings  in 
the  wilderness  forty  years,  0  house  of  Israel  ?  ” 
Jeremiah's  utterances  55  are  more  positive:  “  Thus 
saith  Jehovah  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel:  Add  your 
burnt  offerings  unto  your  sacrifices  and  eat  ye  flesh. 
For  I  spake  not  unto  your  fathers,  nor  commanded 
them  in  the  day  that  I  brought  them  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt  concerning  burnt  offerings  or  sacri¬ 
fices;  but  this  thing  I  commanded  them,  saying, 
Hearken  unto  my  voice,  and  I  will  be  your  God  and 
ye  shall  be  my  people;  and  walk  ye  in  all  the  way 

68 1  Sam.  26  :  19 ;  cf.  Ps.  137  :  4. 

w  Amos  5  :  25. 

66  .Ter.  7  :  21-23. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  145 


that  I  command  you,  that  it  may  be  well  with  you.” 
All  these  things  and  many  more  the  honest  teaching 
pastor  will  discover  and  communicate  to  his  people. 
There  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  theology  of 
Jesus  and  the  various  theologies  outlined  in  the  dif¬ 
ferent  periods  of  Old  Testament  history. 

2.  The  Steady  Development  Toward  Theism 

This  development  is  steadily  toward  a  theistic 
conception  of  God,  toward  an  idea  of  him  distinctly 
religious  that  appeals  to  and  calls  out  the  uttermost 
devotion.  The  progress  is  not  toward  elaboration 
of  rites  and  ceremonies.  Ezekiel’s  program  never 
came  to  pass.56  Many  such  programs  and  predic¬ 
tions  that  grew  out  of  ardent  hopes  failed  of  realiza¬ 
tion.  They  never  will  be  realized,  not  only  because 
world  conditions  have  changed,  but  also  because 
these  predictions  and  visions  were  not  along  the 
pathway  toward  the  theistic  conception  of  God  fully 
revealed  to  us  only  in  Jesus  Christ.  We  need  not 
stop  to  discuss  the  matter  of  “  unfulfilled  prophecy.” 
The  bare  fact  that  God  wanted  to  reveal  himself ,  not 
to  make  programs  for  one  century  or  a  thousand 
centuries,  is  enough  to  disclose  that  his  purpose 
was  the  unveiling  of  his  nature,  that  he  might  enlist 
men  in  fellowship  with  him  in  sharing  his  life  of 
freedom,  righteousness,  and  love.  The  current  is 
steady.  We  need  not  stop  to  investigate  the  little 
eddies  that  swirl  along  the  banks.  At  last  we  come 
to  him  who  was  Immanuel,  and  realize  that  just  as 
the  flower  explains  the  seed,  the  stem,  and  the  leaf, 
just  as  the  fruit  explains  the  root,  the  trunk,  and 
the  twig,  just  as  the  wheat  explains  the  blade  and 


36  Ezekiel,  chapters  40  ff . 


146 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


the  ear,  so  Jesus  Christ  explained  all  the  past.  It 
should  inspire  one  with  profound  gratitude  that 
he  can  see  the  unfolding  of  a  God  not  only  presi¬ 
dent  over  but  resident  in  all  life,  both  transcendent 
and  immanent.  At  last  we  have  come  to  realize  the 
Character  that  was  struggling  against  the  limita¬ 
tions  of  human  life  and  circumstance  in  unceasing 
effort  to  dissolve  all  fogs  that  hid  him  and  stand  out 
in  clear  vision  in  the  Christ  whom  we  adore.  One 
does  not  have  to  undervalue  any  statements  of  Is¬ 
rael’s  prophets  or  psalmists  who  rose  to  see  the 
righteousness  and  love  of  Jehovah,  but  wonders  at 
these  mountain  peaks  of  personality  and  the  glimpses 
they  had  of  the  shining  above  the  clouds  that 
shadowed  those  who  lived  in  the  plains  beneath.  We 
yet  use  much  of  their  language  in  our  prayers  and 
in  our  hymns,  but  consciously  or  unconsciously  we 
are  putting  into  their  words  the  higher  life,  the 
sweeter  devotion,  and  the  more  wonderful  revela¬ 
tion  that  has  been  given  to  us  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord. 

3.  The  Reality  of  God 

We  also  come  to  a  firmer  conviction  of  the  reality 
of  God.  Men  will  not  live  long  in  the  ministry  be¬ 
fore  they  realize  that  two  things  most  needed  today 
are  the  sense  of  the  reality  of  God  and  a  proper 
understanding  of  the  Bible.  These  two  are  related. 
For  many  God  yet  dwells  in  thick  darkness.57  Like 
Job  they  hunt  everywhere  for  him  and  cannot  find 
him.58  They  do  not  take  the  right  path.  A  patient, 
honest  study  of  the  Scriptures  will  beget  in  men  a 

67  Ps.  18  :  11  ;  97  :  2  ;  1  Kings  8  :  12. 

68  Job  9  :  11  ;  23  :  8,  9. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  147 


consciousness  that  the  divine  factor  is  just  as  real 
as  human  factors  in  the  life  of  the  world.  When 
men  have  seen  the  progress  we  have  been  describing 
and  the  passionate  struggle  of  the  Infinite  One  to 
make  himself  known  to  men  that  his  creatures  may 
have  fellowship  with  him,  and  then  come  to  see  Jesus 
Christ,  they  will  recognize  that  the  sense  of  the 
reality  of  God  has  been  growing  all  through  the  his¬ 
tory  recorded  in  the  book.  A  great  theologian  not 
long  since  declared  that  the  most  luminous  discovery 
of  theology  during  the  half  century  before  he  made 
the  statement  was  that  God  was  like  Jesus  Christ.59 
The  Christlikeness  of  God  is  the  thought  that  within 
the  last  generation  has  been  increasingly  borne  in 
upon  the  thinking  of  men.  They  have  come  to  be¬ 
lieve  the  words  of  Jesus.60  God  has  become  more 
real  because  the  historical  Christ  has  become  clearer 
to  our  minds  through  the  patient  study  of  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century.  Our  Father  is  no  hazy  exis¬ 
tence  who  once  lived  in  the  dim  distance  of  time, 
who  possibly  exists  somewhere  in  the  infinite  re¬ 
gions  of  space.  The  fact  that  he  works  through  life, 
that  the  revelations  of  himself  are  historical,  that 
through  the  experiences  of  men  and  the  currents  of 
human  history  he  has  disclosed  himself,  makes  him 
more  real  to  us.  Lunching  one  day  with  the  late 
Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  the  writer  asked  him,  “  What  is 
the  most  real  thing  in  your  consciousness  ?  ”  He 
hesitated  about  answering  the  question  because  he 
did  not  like  to  use  the  language  of  cant  or  pietism. 
At  last  in  the  simplicity  of  his  honest  nature  he 
said :  “  The  most  real  thing  in  my  consciousness  is 

59  William  Newton  Clarke  in  address  at  the  semi-centennial  of  Newton 
Theological  Institution. 

60  John  14  :  9. 


148 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


God.  I  realize  him  most  not  always  when  I  am 
preaching,  but  during  the  hours  of  my  daily  work.” 
At  that  time  he  was  engaged  in  writing  a  book  that 
caused  a  certain  well-known  minister  to  brand  him 
as  an  infidel.  No  man  can  give  himself  to  the  honest 
study  of  the  Scriptures  and  to  the  glorious  privilege 
of  sharing  the  results  of  that  study  with  others  with¬ 
out  increasingly  knowing  the  reality  of  God. 

4.  God  Works  Now  as  Hitherto 

God  is  working  today  as  he  always  did.  Divine 
processes  have  never  ended,  nor  will  they  end  until 
human  capacity  becomes  equal  to  that  of  God.  God 
is  revealing  himself  today.  He  is  still  creating. 
Our  scientific  men  see  the  processes.  Our  knowledge 
like  that  of  the  great  apostle  is  only  in  part 61  and 
we  see  by  means  of  dim  reflections  of  a  mirror,  in 
enigmas,  but  we  shall  know  even  as  we  are  known. 
One  inch  of  the  circumference  of  a  circle  that  ex¬ 
tends  billions  of  miles  is  all  we  need  in  order  to 
know  the  path  of  that  circle,  to  locate  its  center,  to 
measure  the  area  included  in  the  circumference.  A 
thimbleful  of  ocean  water  will  tell  us  its  nature. 
The  spectroscopes  reveal  the  composition  of  the 
stars.  Precisely  what  the  arc  of  the  circle  is  to  the 
whole,  or  the  sample  of  the  ocean  is  to  its  leagues 
of  water,  or  the  lines  of  the  spectroscope  are  to 
Betelguese,  exactly  that  is  the  study  of  God  revealed 
in  human  life  recorded  in  the  Scriptures.  We  pray 
to  a  Father  who  is  now  at  work,  and  not  to  one  who 
used  to  work.  “  My  Father  worketh  hitherto  and 
I  work,”  said  02  Jesus.  God  is  working  in  us  even 

ei  1  Cor.  13  :  12. 

62  John  5  :  17. 


Some  Spiritual  Values  of  His  Ministry  149 


while  we  are  working  out  our  own  right  relation  to 
him,  to  the  physical  universe,  and  to  our  fellow 
men.63  Not  in  spite  of  ourselves,  not  wholly  ex¬ 
ternal  to  us  is  the  activity  of  the  heavenly  Father. 
We  are  workers  together  with  him.64  Daily  each 
calling  becomes  more  divine.  Every  man,  wherever 
the  providence  of  God  puts  him  in  an  occupation 
useful  and  helpful  to  his  fellows,  is  a  minister  of 
God  ordained  to  that  particular  ministry  by  virtue 
of  the  endowment  God  has  given  him.  If  the  sane 
study  of  the  Bible  teaches  anything,  it  shows  us  that 
all  men  in  all  generations  can  take  with  them  into 
their  lives  the  consciousness  of  a  God  still  at  work. 
The  principles  and  objectives  that  control  his  work 
are  those  revealed  to  us  by  the  study  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures.  What  an  inspiration  there  is  in  all  these 
truths  not  only  for  teaching  pastors,  but  also  for  all 
our  church  schools,  in  our  colleges ;  for  the  men  of 
commerce  who  can  be  thus  emancipated  from  sordid 
and  selfish  desires  usually  associated  with  business 
life ;  for  the  professional  men  who  may  regard  their 
knowledge  of  health  and  disease  a  trust  for  the  use 
of  their  fellow  men,  or  their  acquaintance  with 
human  experience  in  matters  of  justice  and  equity 
as  a  gift  for  the  establishment  of  orderly  relations. 
There  is  no  menial  service.  There  is  no  life  that  is 
a  vessel  of  dishonor  if  that  life  has  the  conception 
that  the  same  God  is  working  today  as  in  the  past 
and  is  in  all  things  and  over  all  things. 

These  lectures  have  dealt  specifically  with  the 
relation  of  a  pastor  to  his  Bible  and  his  privilege  of 

83  Phil.  2  :  12,  13. 

64 1  Cor.  3  :  9. 


150 


The  Teaching  Pastor 


sharing  all  he  can  get  from  it  with  those  whom  God 
entrusts  to  his  care.  Now  as  in  other  days  life  is 
found  by  the  knowledge  of  God  65  that  comes  through 
the  Scriptures,  the  physical  universe,  current  his¬ 
tory,  and  ourselves.  When  men  did  not  have  access 
to  the  Scriptures,  they  hungered  for  them.  Have 
we  reached  the  day  when  this  priceless  literature 
floods  the  earth  and  has  become  so  commonplace 
that  men  no  longer  care  to  know  the  story  of  the 
coming  of  God  into  human  life?  If  for  a  single 
generation  all  ministers,  without  regard  to  denomi¬ 
national  connection,  could  spend  their  lives  in  lead¬ 
ing  those  they  serve  into  a  knowledge  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures,  the  next  generation  would  witness  a  world 
the  like  of  which  has  never  been  seen. 

65  John  17  :  3. 


Date  Due 


